That was the Past, this is the Present
by HappyGilmore27
Summary: Dimitri left Rose for Tasha. Now Dimitri returns to St. Vlads sixteen years later with his daughter. Rose is now the head guardian at St. Vlads and her son is attening. Will Rose take Dimitri back? And what happened to Tasha? What about Lissa and Chris?
1. Chapter 1

Claire POV

Why the hell would my dad do this to me? The great Dimitri Belikov is making me transfer from my beloved academy in Russia to the great St. Vladimir Academy in Montana. I'm seventeen years old and a senior. This isn't fair.

Dad is the only parent I have left. He doesn't know I know, but I know what happened to my mom. She's been "missing" for the past four years and my dad thinks I don't know anything. What a joke.

My dad is Dimitri Belikov. He is well known in the guardian world. He used to be one of the guardians at St. Vladimir's, but he moved on once he decided to guard my mom and get married. My mom is Tasha Ozera. She didn't take my dad's last name because she is a Royal Moroi, or at least she was. Her nephew, Christian Ozera is my uncle, or at least thats what I call him. He's married to Vasilisa Dragomir, the queen of our society. She took over once queen Tatiana died. Her nephew, Adrian was supposed to take over, but he was not allowed since he decided to marry Rosemarie Hathaway. Rose used to be the guardian to the queen, but decided just to be her best friend. My dad wasn't too thrilled about that. He said that he was the one who trained Rose to be the great guardian she is. She killed several Strigoi before she turned eighteen and graduated.

My dad always told me that if I ever do what Rose did, marry a Royal Moroi and quit, he would never speak to me again. Yeah, he was kind of exaggerating but I caught what he was trying to say.

Well now we're headed to the academy where my dad made Rose what she is, the academy where he and my mom decided to get together, and the academy where I will finish my guardian education and training and graduate to guard a Moroi.

My dad and I were at the airport waiting for our plane to board.

"Claire, you nervous about going to a new academy?" he asked me.

"Yeah, a little bit. Dad, why are you making me go to St. Vladimir's? I know that it's sentimental to you, but why are you making us move there? Why can't you just let me stay here with Aunt Viktoria and Aunt Sonya? Why can't you just go on your own and take a vacation?" I pleaded.

"It's important for you to move here and be cultured. You need to learn from a new guardian thats not me. I've been training you your whole life."

"Then who's going to mentor me? A kid without a mom and a bad temper?" I was known for my bad temper.

"Rose Hathaway will be your mentor," he told me straight.

I froze.

"W-what? Rose H-h-hathaway? Your student from when you were a guardian at the academy?" Oh shit. I'm screwed.

"Yes. But there's a lot about Rose that I have to tell you. She knows what it's like to not have a mom around. She had a bad temper and attitude when I first met her. Just give her a chance."

"Okay, okay. I will. But... wait, didn't you just say there was more you had to tell me about her?"

He flinched.

"Yes. There is."

"Spill it, dad."

He looked me straight in the eye and told me everything.

"Rose was seventeen when I met her. She was your age. She had a horrible attitude and was always getting into trouble. As you know, she was and still is the best friend of Vasilisa Dragomir. She took her away for a couple years because they were both in danger. Though, we didn't know it at the time, Rose was trying to keep Lissa safe. We found them and brought them back to the academy where Rose was going to be expelled. But there was something about her that made me think that she was dedicated to the guardian role. So instead of letting her get expelled, I decided to mentor her. She had no self-control and tried to fight all the time. Lissa is a Spirit user, and every time she would use spirit, darkness would over take her and Rose would take the darkness out of Lissa. Rose shared a bond with Lissa and she could feel all her emotions and sometimes when she would get sucked into Lissa's head, it scared me. One time it got so bad that she tried to fight everyone. She wanted to kill a Moroi, even though he probably deserved it. So to get the darkness out that she took from Lissa, I took her to a cabin outside the wards. And we made love and I never thought I could love anyone so much. Rose also watched one of her best friends died in a fight with two Strigoi that she killed. She was so crushed and she blamed herself for the longest time. She still blames herself. It was then that I swore to myself I would protect her no matter what. But of course, as you can see, I didn't keep that promise. She fell in love with me and I fell in love with her. But I broke her heart and crushed her even more by leaving her. I still love her, but I crushed her the day I left. I left the worst note that I could. I didn't even tell her goodbye. I just left."

He was starting to cry at the memory. But I had no idea that he loved another woman before mom. I didn't expect anything like that. But I especially didn't expect for him to fall in love with Rose Hathaway!

"Dad, where does mom come into all of this?"

He frowned. "Your mom made me an offer to become her guardian and lover. Later that became her husband, and you came out of that." He smiled at me. "But it wasn't until after the cabin and Strigoi attack that I left Rose to be with your mom. I loved your mom, but it was more of a friendship type of love. With Rose, I really loved her. And like I said, I still do." He was staring off into space the next time I looked at him.

"Oh, dad." I leaned over the arm rest to give him a hug. "You should go after her."

He stared at me, shocked.

"What? I don't think she wants me anymore. Not after what I did to her."

"Dad, I still say you should go for it. I mean, she could be my step-mom." Woah, didn't mean to go there.

"Ha ha. Claire. Don't think too far ahead. We still have to see if she'll forgive me before I decide to propose to her," he just shook his head.

"If she does forgive you, this time, don't leave her."

"Thanks Claire. I love you baby girl."

"I love you too, Dad."

With that, then, our plane was called to board. Dad bought us first class seats since it was a long flight from Russia to Montana.

Montana, Rose, here we come.

Connor POV

"Hey, mom?"

"In here, sweetheart!" my mom called from her office.

"Mom, I need to ask you something," I told her straight up.

"What is it?"

"Are you going to be my mentor anymore now that you're getting a new student?"

"No. You are going to get a new mentor too."

Great. I just knew it. "And who is going to take on the great Connor Hathaway?"

"The guardian who mentored me. Guardian Dimitri Belikov."

I froze. Dimitri is the man my mom had fallen in love with originally. Before she even met my dad. My dad always knew that she would love Dimitri over him, but they still shared a love. But now that he's coming back to train the second Hathaway to attend St. Vladimir's, I was going to be put through hell.

My mom is Rosemarie Hathaway, but she prefers to be called Rose. Rose and Dimitri met when she was seventeen. But he ditched my mom right after a Strigoi attack to be with a royal Moroi, Tasha Ozera. Oh, he was so going to get a lesson from me. No one hurts my mom like that and gets away with it.

"Mom, are you sure you should let Belikov be my mentor?" I asked.

"Yes, Connor, I'm sure. Besides, You have no choice, just like he as no choice. I am the head guardian at this academy and what I say goes. Got it?" She had her guardian mask on now. Great.

"Yes, mom. I understand. Oh, and mom?"

"What?" she spat.

"Do you still love him?" I have been curious for quite some time now.

Her mask softened. "Yes. I do. But I don't know if I can forgive him for what he did to me and how he left. I haven't heard from him in eighteen years. Yes, Lissa and Christian would go and visit Tasha and him, but I made Eddie go instead because I didn't want to see him. So now, I just don't know."

"Mom," I looked her straight in the eye. "This time, don't let him get away."

With that I walked out of her office to go meet Marie. Her full name is Rosemarie, but because Lissa named her after my mom, we call her Marie instead. Marie is my best friend. Yeah, she has a twin brother named Harold, but we just never connected. We're still good friends and everything, but Marie and I just get along better. Oh, well.

I found Marie with her brother by the dhampir dorms.

"Connor!" she squealed and ran up to me.

"Hey, Marie!" I picked her up and hugged her. "How are you today?"

"Oh, well I am just fine and dandy! How are you today Mr. Hathaway?"

I chuckled. "I am just perfect. Hey, Harold."

"Hey, man." It was only then that I saw he had someone glued to his side. What the...? Since when?

"Harold, who's the girl you're trying to hide?" Marie laughed.

"Oh, this is Jane. Jane Conta."

"Hi, Jane. Nice to meet you." I extended my hand to shake hers. "I'm Connor Hathaway."

She looked down at the floor. "I know who you are."

I just shrugged.

"Come on Connor!" Marie spoke. "I have so much to tell you!"

"Okay, okay. Let's go! See you later Harold."

Marie and I ran up to her room and she slammed the door right behind me.

"Why didn't you tell me that Dimitri Belikov was coming back?!" she screamed at me.

Oh no.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN VAMPIRE ACADEMY OR ANY OF THE CHARACTERS!**

**Except Claire, Connor, Marie, and Harold. :]**

**Sorry guys. This is my first trial at a fan-fic. Don't get too upset with me if this is horrible. Like I said. First try. :]**

**Hope you enjoy it!**

Dimitri POV

Claire and I boarded the plane. She fell asleep right away, but sleep did not come for me. I was too busy thinking about Rose.

Rose is so beautiful. She aged beautifully. Even though I haven't seen her in person, whenever Lissa and Christian used to come over and visit, Lissa would bring a picture of Rose and her son with her so we could see how well she is doing. Rose married Adrian after all and that infuriated me. Although, I broke her heart so I guess I can't really say anything about Rose and her decisions. I thought I was leaving her for a good reason. But when Lissa came one day with a letter from Rose in her hand, my world shattered.

_Flashback_

_ "Tasha! Oh how good to see you! You too Dimitri." Lissa and Christian had just walked in the door for the first time since Tasha and I had been together. Eddie Castile walked in the door behind him. Isn't Rose Lissa's guardian? Shouldn't she be here? But there was a look on Lissa's face and I knew something was up._

_ "Oh Lissa, Christian, it's so good to see you! How are you?" Tasha squealed._

_ Lissa spoke next. "Oh I'm just great! But if you don't mind, Dimitri, could I talk to you in private for a few minutes?"_

_ "Sure thing, princess."_

_ "Lissa. Please, calle me Lissa."_

_ I followed her into the guest bedroom and shut the door behind me. As soon as I walked in the door Lissa's face had a sour look. This must be because of Rose._

_ "Dimitri, how could you do this?" she accused._

_ "What do you mean?" Now I'm starting to play dumb._

_ "What do I mean? You know exactly what I mean! How could you do that to Rose? She loves you! And yet you just go and throw it away like she's nothing but cheap meat. Exactly what it would sound like if she was a blood whore, and you and I both know she is the complete opposite."_

_ "Lissa, I-" she cut me off._

_ "She's crying all the time because of you. I'm the only one she'll see. Christian will come sometimes and try to help her but neither of us can get through. Adrian has tried too but all of us just make her cry harder because of it. She doesn't want to eat anymore either and she's barely been to the gym. She's my sanctioned guardian. But now, whenever Christian and I come here, Eddie has to be the guardian to come because she can't take seeing you. It'll only make her worse."_

_ I stood there speechless, trying to let all this new information sink in. It was heartbreaking._

_ "You can go on pretending you love Tasha, but I know you love Rose just as much as she loves you." Lissa walked over to her purse and reached in to grab something. She pulls out an envelope with my name on it. "Rose wrote this for you. She said for me not to open it or read it until you did." She handed the letter to me._

_ I opened the letter and gasped at the words written on the page._

_**Dimitri,**_

_** I can't believe you did that to me! You left me! After you promised me you would protect me and love me forever. Do you remember that? In the cabin, you promised me! I'm so hurt. I'm heartbroken. I'm devastated. You crushed me. I hate you for what you did.**_

_** Yes, I know Tasha can give you what you want. A child, a family. Something I can't ever give you. But I wish I could have so that maybe you would have stayed. But now I know I wasn't good enough for you. I wasn't something you ever wanted to deal with. I know now you don't love me.**_

_** You hurt me. You didn't say goodbye to me and that's what hurt the most. Not you leaving or not telling me about you leaving. It was that you didn't say goodbye.**_

_** I hope you have a happy life with Tasha.**_

_** I will always love you Dimitri. Always.**_

_**Love,**_

_**Rose**_

_ I just stared at the letter, completely forgetting that Lissa was in the room. How could Rose think that I didn't love her? I still do. Oh god, what have I done?_

_End Flashback_

For sixteen years I have blamed myself for everything that has happened. I blame myself for hurting Rose and it was my fault. Never again will I hurt Rose. Never. I will always protect her. From her on out, that's what I devote my life to.

Rose POV

I didn't know if I was going to be able to take Dimitri coming back. I still cried myself to sleep sometimes because he hurt me so much.

I married Adrian after Dimitri left and sometimes he would find me alone in our bathroom, curled up into a ball on the floor crying. He would rush over and make sure everything is all right and that i wasn't hurt. But then he would understand that I was still hurt and crushed. It used to happen within the first few years of our marriage. But eventually, it became less and less and I learned how to deal with the pain.

But then Adrian developed lung cancer that was going to kill him. I thought my world was coming down right then. Adrian and I had been married for fifteen years, despite what every one else would say. But then one day, there was no breathing coming from him. No pulse of his blood. My heart shattered for a second time. Our son, Connor, was the only thing left in my life that was stable. He stood by my side the whole way. From the beginning of Adrian's sickness, to the end.

Now, here I am. Sixteen years after Dimitri left, and a year after Adrian's death. A mess. My best friend Lissa has been here for me every step of the way. She had taken me for granted when we were younger. But now, she treats me as her equal. Not like I'm just a guardian and she is the queen. We are just best friends who are always there for each other. She was the one person I confided everything in.

I remember the day in the gym I found out he left just like it was yesterday.

_Flash back_

_ I was on my way to the gym for practice with Dimitri. When I arrived, he wasn't there like he usually is. The mats were set out in the middle of the gym floor, but he wasn't there. He wasn't reading one of his funky Western novels._

_ "Oh, well," I said to myself. "Might as well start stretching."_

_ I put my iPod headphones in my ears and started to do my stretches. After a half hour, I was starting to get worried. So instead of waiting around, I ran out to the track and started to run._

_ I was in the middle of my eighth lap when Alberta came up to me._

_ "Rose, what are you doing out here?"_

_ "I had practice with Dimitri this morning but he never showed up. Do you know where he could be?"_

_ She had a look of pure sympathy on her face. Oh no, what now?_

_ "I thought someone would have told you by now. I was sure Dimitri was going to tell you himself, but I guess not."_

_ "Tell me what?" I demanded._

_ "Rose... Dimitri left last night."_

_ "When is he coming back?" I asked. But I knew the answer already._

_ "He isn't. He decided to guard Tasha Ozera. He left last night with her. I'm so sorry. I was sure someone had told you."_

_ I couldn't breathe. _He left me_. I thought. I was having trouble standing. My head started to spin._

_ "Rose? Rose!" Alberta screamed._

_ After that, I passed out._

_ I woke up to bright lights up above and voices talking about me._

_ Great. I'm in the clinic again._

_ "Rose, how are you feeling?" the doctor asked._

_ Well lets see, my heart has been ripped out of my chest and I can't barely breathe. "I'm fine," I reply._

_ "Okay, well you can go, but if you feel dizzy at all, come back and we'll take a look," she told me._

_ "Okay."_

_ I got up and just about ran to my room. Once I got there I curled up on my bed and bawled. I could not believe he left me._

_End Flashback_

I was on my way to meet Lissa. We had a dinner planned together. Just her and me. No Christian, no kids, just us. It seems like we never get to hang out just us anymore.

Halfway to Lissa's office considering now she's the headmistress at the academy, I hear a sweet voice I thought I would never hear again. But at the same time it was the voice I was dreading to hear. It was _his_ voice.

"Rose..."


	3. Chapter 3

**Okay, so I hope you have enjoyed my story so far. I actually came up with the idea in Spanish class. Ha. Go Figure.**

**Oh, I know there might be some confusion with the whole Lissa thing. But it will be explained soon. It's all in the plan.**

**Once again, I don't own Vampire Academy.**

**Here's chapter 3. Enjoy!**

Dimitri POV

We landed on the academy airstrip around 3 am. Claire and I got off the plane to find Alberta, a novice, Lissa, and Christian waiting for us. Once I saw Alberta, I was a little shocked. I knew she wasn't the head guardian anymore but I didn't know that she was still working here. It just didn't make sense.

When I saw Lissa, she was just standing there with no emotion on her face. But I could see a little in her eyes. She looked pissed. I was pretty sure I knew why too.

Christian just stood there with no expression on his face. But then again, the only reason he was there was because of Lissa.

This novice standing next to Lissa was the most confusing of the bunch. He didn't look like Christian and Lissa, so he was obviously not their child. But who's could he be?

"Guardian Belikov, so nice for you to return to the academy. You will be staying in the same room you were in when you were first a guardian here. Claire, this is Connor, Guardian Hathaway's son. He will show you to your room," Lissa told us.

Wait, what? This novice is Rose's son? I had no idea! The last time Lissa brought a picture of Rose, Connor wasn't in it. I wonder how I could not have recognized it. Connor has Rose's dark hair and tanned skin but has Adrian's green eyes. Oh, wow. How did I not notice the resemblance.

"Princess Dragomir, it's good to see you. Hello Lord Ozera. Guardian Petrov, you haven't changed a bit. I would like to introduce you to my daughter. This is Claire."

Claire extended her hand to shake Alberta's. "It's very nice to meet you Guardian Petrov. Hello Princess Dragomir and Lord Ozera." I could tell Clair wasn't used to using Lissa and Christian's formal names. It was very uncomfortable for her.

Christian piped in. "Claire, how many times have we told you. You don't have to call us by our formal names. Especially me. I'm Uncle Christian to you."

Claire smiled.

"And I'm Aunt Lissa to you," Lissa told her.

Claire sighed in relief. "Thanks. That just sounded weird and felt weird on the tongue. No joke."

Everyone laughed.

Claire left with Connor and Alberta left shortly after that with Christian. Lissa was the only one left and I knew there was something on her mind. The only time she ever spoke to me was when she had something to say, and most of the time it was about Rose.

"Dimitri, you do know that Rose works here right?" Of course, how could I not know that.

"Yes, I am aware."

"Look, I want to warn you right now. If you ever hurt her here, I will send you back to Russia. Even if it isn't safe there for Claire. I just can't take Rose being hurt. After you left, she was in a horrible state. It took her thirteen years to finally get over you. But then Adrian died and she was a mess all over again. She couldn't be my guardian anymore because she was so shattered. So I did what any best friend would do. I made sure she was a guardian at this school, even though she hated it, just to make sure she was with her son, and I was there for her. It's only been a year since Adrian's death. She still hasn't gotten over it. But if you ever, EVER, crush her again, I will hunt you down and kill you myself. Got it?" I knew right then not to mess with Lissa. She would kill me.

"Yes. I understand."

"Good. I'm sure you can find your way around. Oh, and Dimitri. I'm sorry to hear about what happened to Tasha. I knew you weren't in love with her, but she was an amazing woman. It's too bad that, that had to happen to her."

"Yeah. Me too." With that I walked away to go find my room, once again.

I was about halfway to my room when I saw her. She was just as gorgeous as she was when I first met her. She made my heart melt.

"Rose..."

She turned around at the sound of my voice with a shocked look on her face. That gorgeous face.

"D-d-d-dimitri..." she stuttered.

"Rose," I didn't know where to begin. I took a few steps closer to her as she just stood there frozen. "Rose, I'm so sorry."

"Why?" she whispered.

"I'm sorry because I didn't say goodbye. I'm sorry that I broke your heart. I'm sorry that I put you through so much pain. I'm sorry about Adrian. But I'm most sorry for not telling you I was leaving and not saying goodbye," I told her in a rush.

"You're sorry? You're sorry? Oh please. I knew that the day you left you didn't love me like I thought you did. You broke my heart. You crushed me to the point where I could barely breathe. I blacked out the day you left. I wanted to call you just to hear your voice and to hear that you loved me. But no! Of course I couldn't do that! You left! That's why I would never go with Lissa to visit you. I always had Eddie go because if I had seen you one more time, I would have broken down and left Lissa guardian-less. That's why I am no longer Lissa's guardian. The pain was too much Dimitri. How could you do that?!" I flinched at her last words.

"Rose, I never stopped loving you. You have to know, I never meant to hurt you. I still love you. I'm so sorry."

"You never meant to hurt me? Yeah right. You promised me you wouldn't leave. You promised me you would protect me. But what happened? You left me and didn't protect me, especially my heart." The tears were starting to form in her eyes.

"Rose, Roza, please. I'm so sorry. Tell me what I can do to fix it? What will make you forgive me?"

"Forgive you?!" she screamed. She tried to punch me but I nearly dodged out of the way. "Why should I forgive you! You broke my heart! You left me!" She tried to punch me again. This time her fist grazed the side of my face. "You didn't say goodbye!" She swung her leg around and knocked my feet out from under me and I landed flat on my back, knocking the wind right out of me. "You left me for _her_. You didn't even want me!" This time I swung my leg out and made her knees buckle. She fell to the ground on all fours right next to me. We were both breathing heavily. "Why did you leave me?" she asked. She started to sob.

I can't believe I am the one who caused this. I swore to myself I would never hurt Rose again. And here I am just doing exactly what I said I wasn't going to do. Wow. I'm a genius.

I was going to reach out to her and hold her in my arms. I desperately wanted to take away all the pain she was suffering from. I tried to reach out to her but she just cringed away from my touch.

"Why did you come back?" she whispered.

"Because Claire wasn't safe in Russia. She was going to be hunted."

"By who?"

I did not want to have this conversation with Rose right now. Not when I needed to make sure that she wasn't still in pain after what I did.

"I'll tell you later. Rose I-"

She cut me off. "I hate you Dimitri. You shouldn't have come back." She kicked me in the groin right before running off.

I am such an idiot.

Connor POV

"So Claire, you excited to be here in Montana?" I asked her.

"Not really. But I guess if my dad really wants to move here and not leave me back in Russia with my aunts, then it doesn't matter really," she told me.

I still couldn't believe that I was walking next to one of the most beautiful people I have ever met. She had long brown hair and brown eyes that could make any man melt. Claire had slightly tanned skin. Not like her father's. Her mom must have been extremely pale for a Moroi if she isn't that tan. Oh well. She makes it gorgeous. And every time she speaks it makes my heart jump. Man, I'm turning into a softy. I need to work on that.

"Well don't worry about it. It'll get better eventually." She smiled at me.

"Okay. Whatever you say."

"Hey, listen, since you're new here and don't know anyone yet, how about I introduce you to Marie and Harold. They would love to meet you. Especially Marie."

Claire gave me a look as if she was saying _are you serious?_

"Uh, I already know Marie and Harold. They're kind of my cousins. We're related."

"Oh." I couldn't think of anything else to say. I felt so stupid at that comment.

"Don't worry about it, Connor. It's not that big of a deal. We're just not a normal family, that's all."

"Okay. Well the offer is always out there if you care to join us." I hope she says yes.

"Alright. I'll think about it. But for now, I would just like to sleep, if you don't mind showing me to my room, everything will be settled."

"Okay."

I walked her to her room and stood in the doorway to make sure she was all set.

"Since you have everything, I'm going to take off. I have some important business to take care of," I told her. I really didn't. I just wanted her to think I did. That sounds stupid.

"Thanks again for all your help."

"No problem. It's the least I could do."

"Goodnight, Connor."

"Goodnight, Claire."

I started to make my way to Marie's dorm when I heard a horrible sound coming from Claire's room. I ran back and tried to open the door, but it was locked. I kicked the door open, breaking the lock, to find that there was no one in the room. But that's when I saw Claire, lying in the middle of the floor crumpled up. She was hurt badly. But when I gazed at the window, it was open. No wait, it wasn't open, it was broken. Someone broke the window sending sharp pieces of glass everywhere around the room.

Checking my surroundings, I look to see if there is someone in the room. But once again, I don't see anyone.

Thats when a Strgoi jumps out at me from no where and pins me to the floor. I try to break free but her grip on me is so tight, I can't move.

"Stop it. You're not going anywhere. But I want to convey a little message for you to pass along. Okay. Here it is. I know who your mother is. I know where I can find her. And I know that I will kill her and take my husband and daughter back with me to awaken them. There is nothing you can do to stop me now that my plan is in motion. Give this message to your mother."

I felt tiny pricks at the side of my neck. I tense even more than I already am. Then I feel a sharp pain in my neck as the Strigoi feeds off me. Slowly the endorphins that give you pleasure sink in and I fall deep into unconsciousness.


	4. Chapter 4

**I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING INVOLVING VAMPIRE ACADEMY!**

**Except the characters I made up.**

**The Reviews are great! Thanks for all the positivity. It's greatly appreciated.**

**Well here's Chapter 4. :]**

Lissa POV

Rose and I were going to meet for dinner tonight. She was supposed to meet me at my office a few minutes ago. But that's typical for Rose I guess. Oh well. It's only a few minutes. Not that long.

I was about to call Rose and ask her when she was going to get here, but instead my phone started to ring. It was Christian. I answered it.

"Hello?"

_"Hey Liss. I have something I need to talk to you about. Is now a good time?"_

"Honestly Christian, it's-" I was cut off by Rose walking in through the door to my office. She looked like she had been crying and I knew I needed to be there for her. "Sorry, Christian. Rose just got here. We're going to go to dinner now. I'll see you tonight though and we can talk. Okay?"

_"Okay. I love you Lissa." _he said to me.

"I love you too." With that I shut my phone off.

"Rose, what's wrong?" I asked her. She had slumped down into one of the chairs right by my desk.

"Lissa, I don't know if having Dimitri back is such a good idea," she told me.

"Why do you say that? Did something happen between you two just now or something?"

"Yeah. Unfortunately." She grimaced.

"Can you tell me what happened? Maybe I can help."

"Lissa..." she was going to cry again so I sat down next to her and placed my hand on top of hers.

"Rose, you can tell me anything, you know that."

She thought about it for a second then spoke. "Lissa, he said he still loves me. But I always thought he didn't love me. He hurt me so bad. We ran into each other just now. He was still as gorgeous as I remember. But when I saw him, all I wanted to do was run into his arms and kiss him. But I can't forgive him for what he did to me." She took a deep breath to steady herself. "I told him I hate him and that he should never have come back."

I was shocked. I knew Rose was upset with him, but I didn't know how much.

"Rose, I think you two need to work things out. Maybe you should just let him explain before you want to go and punch him every time you see him."

"God, Lissa. Why did he have to come back?"

I froze. I knew I shouldn't tell her. The only reason I knew was because Dimitri had to tell me. I was queen apart from being headmistress at the academy. I left the academy all the time to go to court so I could deal with Moroi society business. God, if only Adrian hadn't died. He would have been a far better king than I am queen. All I want to do is work here as the headmistress. But no. Of course not. I have to be queen too. This is all so stressful.

But then I heard about why Dimitri was moving to St. Vladimir's academy and I knew that he couldn't stay in Russia, even if Rose was going to be in pain.

"Rose, I don't know why he came back. But I still think you should ask him about it first before you make conclusions to anything." I hate lying to Rose.

"Okay. I'll think about it. But for now, can we forget about this whole Dimitri mess and go eat a normal dinner for once? We haven't hung out just us girls in a long time. Not since we got married and had kids. Please?" How could I not agree with her?

"Of course. Let's go."

Rose POV

Lissa and I arrived back to the academy after a wonderful dinner. I had forgotten what it was like to be best friends with Lissa. She's been so busy lately. With her being queen and all and headmistress at the academy, she barely had anytime to herself anymore. She barely sees her family. But she says she manages even though I protest.

If only Adrian hadn't died.

_Flashback_

_ I was in the kitchen making dinner for Adrian and Connor when Adrian walked in the door with a sour look on his face._

_ "Hey honey. What's wrong?" I asked._

_ "Rose, I don't know what I'm going to do."_

_ "What do you mean?" I was starting to worry. I hope it's nothing._

_ "I went to the doctor today to find out if I had any problems. One of those checkups that we're supposed to get every year," he said. I was starting to panic._

_ "Adrian, what are you talking about?"_

_ "I have lung cancer. I only have a few months left to live."_

_ I dropped the mixture I was making up and it splattered all over the floor. I just stared at Adrian. This I was not expecting. I didn't know what to do or say. I just stood there, frozen._

_ "Rose, please say something," Adrian pleaded._

_ "This isn't true. You can't be sick. You can't be. You just... can't." I wasn't thinking. I was just speaking words._

_ "Rose, I know this is a lot to take in, but I _need_ you to be strong. I need you to be strong for me and strong for Connor. He's not going to take this easily."_

_ Tears were starting to form in the corners of my eyes. This could not be happening._

_ I walked over to Adrian. He wrapped his arms around me while I silently cried into his chest._

_ "Adrian, what am I going to do without you? I love you so much." I sobbed even harder._

_ "Shh, shh. Rose, It's okay. You'll figure it out. But just always remember. Even if I can't be with you in person, I will always be there for you in spirit. I'll make sure of it," he promised._

_ "I'm going to hold you to that."_

_ He just held me in his arms and waited for me to collect myself so we could clean up the kitchen and make dinner for the second time tonight._

_End flashback_

Adrian promised me he would be with me in spirit. Well I believe him. I keep his memory close to my heart, just in case I even need to be reassured of it.

I will never forget Adrian, and everything he has done for me. But right now is the time I needed him most. With Dimitri's return, it's almost as if everything has been twisted into a horrible nightmare, and my past is coming back to haunt me. Oh, wait. It already has.

I was still a little stunned at what had happened between me and Dimitri. I hadn't meant to say I hated him, but I hated what he did to me. It was possibly the worst torture someone could put another live person through. Especially if said someone was the one person you loved most.

I was almost to my room when Eddie came running up to me. Eddie and I became friends after the Strigoi incident in Spokane. He had a look on his face now that told me that there was something wrong, and that something was going to be horrible.

"Rose!" he screamed.

"Eddie! What is it? What's wrong?" I asked.

"Connor. He's hurt, very hurt. He's in the clinic right now. I was sent out here to find you to take you to him," he told me.

He didn't even tell me what was wrong with him before I was sprinting to the clinic. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted Dimitri staring at me with wide eyes. But at this point, I didn't care. My only thought was to get to Connor and make sure he was alright. he was the only thing left in my life that was good. He couldn't be taken away from me too.

I arrived at the clinic to find Connor laying on one of those horrible hospital beds where I used to spend so much time when I was seventeen. But to see Connor laying there made my heart stop. He was in bad shape. I walked right up to him.

"What's wrong with him? Why is he in here?" I demanded.

"Rose, calm down. He's going to be alright." Dr. Rave told me. "He's just bruised badly on his head and he has bite marks on the side of his neck."

I froze.

"Bite marks? How? No Moroi would dare to bite him." The panic was showing through my voice.

"I don't think it was a Moroi. I'm guessing it was a Strigoi."

"How could a Strigoi get on campus? We have wards. Unless..." _Unless there were humans working with the Strigoi again._

Oh no.

I could feel a slight sting coming from the corner of my eyes and I realized I was going to start crying. I felt Eddie's arms wrap around me as I sobbed into his chest.

Connor started to wake up from unconsciousness.

"Mom?" he spoke.

"Oh thank god you're awake!"

"Mom, don't leave me," he pleaded.

"Sweetheart, I'm right here," I told him as I took his hand in mine. "Connor, what happened?"

He gulped. "I was on my way back to my room after I showed Claire to hers, when I heard a crash coming from her room. I had to kick the door down because it was locked. But when I got there, I found Claire lying on the floor covered in blood when a Strigoi attacked me." He paused to take a deep breath. "Mom, she knew you too. She gave me a message to give to you."

I gave him a puzzled look. I wasn't so sure that he was completely sane. "What message would that be?"

"She said,_ I know who your mother is. I know where I can find her. And I know that I will kill her and take my husband and daughter back with me to awaken them. There is nothing you can do to stop me now that my plan is in motion_. Mom, she knows you and wants to kill you. Whoever her daughter and husband are, obviously you know them too. Mom, I don't want you to die."

**Hehe. I know I'm totally leaving you hanging. But just stay tuned. I'll try to have the next couple chapters up either Monday or Tuesday. Hopefully tomorrow.**

**I hope you guys liked this chapter. I tried to write more but I just think what happens next needs to happen in the next couple chapters! :]**

**Hope you like it so far. :]**


	5. Chapter 5

**Okay, so I know I haven't updated in a couple days, so I have the next couple chapters ready to go for you guys. Please enjoy!**

**Here's chapter 5!**

Rose POV

No way. I was not expecting that. Not at all.

"Honey, I'm not going to die. You can count on that," I told him.

"Connor, I'm not going to let anything happen to your mom. Never in a million years," said Eddie. This is why he and I are such good friends. We can depend on eachother.

"I won't let anything happen to her either," said that voice.

Dimitri's voice. Dimitri is in the room.

I turned around and stepped out of Eddie's arms to look at him.

"Dimitri, what are you doing here?" I asked.

"I came as soon as I heard what happened. There is no way I'm going to let some Strigoi take you away from me. Not as long as I can help it."

I just stared at him. Maybe I should listen to Lissa. Maybe I should just let him explain and give him a chance. That's what my better side was saying. My bad side was still telling me that he didn't really love me and that he left because he didn't want me. Which side do I choose?

Eddie broke me out of my trance.

"Belikov, what makes you so sure? You left once, remember? I'm sure you do. But you didn't see her when you left. You didn't have to watch over her and make sure she ate her food and slept peacefully. You didnt'-" I cut him off because he was going on too long and this was a conversation I didn't want to have right now, especially with my child in the clinic.

"Eddie, calm down. We'll discuss this later. Okay?"

He sighed. "Yeah, okay. But we will discuss this once we get the chance."

"Okay."

But just as I was about to speak again, I stopped myself. Something just occurred to me. Connor never said what happened to Claire. He said he saw her lying in the middle of her floor covered in blood. But she wasn't brought back here.

"Connor, where's Claire?"

He stiffened. "I don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know?" I asked.

"I was knocked out before I could tell you who or where they had taken her."

"Oh, god."

I turned to Dimitri. "Do you know where your daughter is?"

"No. You don't think..."

"I hope not."

"Eddie, call Lissa and tell her to get over here right now. It's an emergency!"

Just as Eddie was about to pull out his phone, Lissa came running into the room. She had a look of panic and worry on her face. I checked our bond to see if something was up. Her emotions were all over the place, but I couldn't get a good feel of what was going on.

"Rose! You have to help me!" she screeched.

"Lissa, calm down. What's wrong?"

"Marie is missing!"

What? First Claire, now Marie. Where could they be?

"It's going to be alright. Just relax. We will find her. She is our number one priority, along with Claire."

"Where's Claire?" she asked.

"I believe she's missing too. Connor was knocked out before anything else had happened to her so he couldn't help us. But Claire and Marie are going to be found."

"Rose, please hurry!"

"Okay. But could you do me a favor?"

"Yes! Of course! Anything!" she agreed.

"Will you heal Connor? He was bitten."

She nodded and walked over to Connor. She placed her hand on the side of his neck and his arm. At first he stiffened, but slowly he began to relax.

"There. You feeling better?" she asked him.

"Yes. Very much. Thank you Lissa," he responded.

"No problem. I don't like seeing you hurt." She smiled at him and walked back over to where I was standing. "Rose, I'm going to find Christian. He still doesn't know. Will you be okay?"

"Yes. Yes. Go. I can take care of things."

With that she left the room leaving me standing between Eddie and Dimitri with my son laying on the hospital bed. Oh how could this get any worse?

"Guardian Belikov, can I talk to you for a second?" Connor asked Dimitri.

Dimitri nodded his head and walked over to Connor's side. I guess I can't really do anything about this since Dimitri is his mentor, but I wish I could.

"Mom, will you and Eddie leave too? I need to speak with Guardian Belikov privately if you don't mind..." he looked skeptical.

"Oh, yes of course. We'll leave right now." I walked over to his side to plant a kiss on his forehead. "Don't scare me like that ever again. Okay?"

"Okay, mom. I love you."

"I love you too sweetie."

With that, Eddie and I left the room leaving Dimitri alone with Connor.

"You know," Eddie started, "I may not forgive Belikov for what he did to you, but you should talk to him and let him explain. You never know."

"You know, Lissa said the exact same thing a couple hours ago," I told him.

He put his arm around me in a friendly way. "Then maybe you should listen to what we say."

I laughed.

"Okay, we'll see. I don't know if I'm ready to forgive him yet."

"I understand."

From then on we just walked in silence all the way back to our rooms.

We said goodnight to each other and I walked into my room. I just flopped down onto my bed without caring about changing my clothes. Today's events were taking their toll on me and I fell asleep thinking about how we were going to find Claire and Marie.

Connor POV

After my mom left, Dimitri grabbed a chair and pulled it over to the side of my bed.

"Alright, Connor. What is it you want to talk about?" he asked.

I had no idea how to tell him the information I have. It wasn't the easiest thing to know or try to understand. I had to live through it, so it's even more confusing than it needs to be. Plus there's the whole thing with my mom we still have to discuss...

"Connor, it's all right. Just tell me. This can't be that bad."

I took a deep breath.

"Okay, look. Here's the thing. I know all about you and my mom and what you guys had when you were younger. She told me about everything, even the so called cabin you two loved so much." He stared at me in confusion. "Don't worry. She didn't go into detail. Oh god, that would be bad. No, it's just that I love my Mom so much that I don't think I could stand to see her go through that kind of pain. Especially if she's gone through it already once before and you were the cause. So I have to warm you right now. If you ever, ever hurt my mom emotionally or physically again, I will hunt you down. Got it?"

He nodded his head. "Don't worry. I don't plan on hurting her, never again in a million years. That was one of the biggest mistakes I have ever made in my life. And Lissa told me the exact same thing earlier. Don't worry, I won't do that to your mom again."

I just stared at him. There was one more piece of information that I should share with him, but I wasn't sure as to how.

"Connor, is there anything else you have to say to me?" He must have known.

I just stared at my covered up feet trying to get the words out.

"Okay, well if you're just going to sit there-" I cut him off.

"I know where Claire and Marie are."

He froze.

**:] Hope you enjoyed it!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Sorry! I know it's been a few days and I've been trying to write but I was in a car accident a few days ago and I was still shaken pretty bad and the only things I could come up with when I was trying to write was kill off a bunch of characters but that didn't sound very interesting. Then I had tests I needed to study for, one of them being Spanish, and I had the activities I needed to go to and one thing just led to the next and now here I am finally writing again.**

**Hope you like this new chapter!**

**Chapter 5**

Dimitri's POV

"What do you mean you now where Claire is?" I asked.

I can't believe he just said that. One minute we're talking about how he'll practically hunt me down if I hurt Roza again and then the next he's telling me he knows where my daughter and Marie are.

"I know where they are. Marie is a Spirit user. Somehow, just like my dad, she can dream walk. No one knows how she inherited the ability since Lord Ozera is a fire user and Queen Dragomir is a Spirit user who can heal, but somehow she's able to dream walk."

"Why is this the first time I'm hearing about all of this? The Spirit using that is?"

"It's probably because with all that's happened since you and Claire got here, things have been kind of crazy lately," he told me.

I just stared at him. This could not be happening. Not again. I thought this was over after the Spokane incident when Rose, Christian, Eddie, Mia, and Mason were captured by Strigoi and held hostage. But now, my daughter. How much more of this could I take. I had to find her. I had to find Claire and Marie.

"Okay. Well, if you know where they are, then where are they?"

"Well, see that's the problem. She doesn't exactly know where she is. She just gave me details of the place, and to me it seems familiar. I'm guessing that if I give you the same details she gave me, you would know what place she is talking about."

"Connor, just spit it out already!" I shouted. I ran my hand through my hair in frustration.

"They're in a cabin. She doesn't know if they're by the wards or not, but it seems pretty close to the academy."

A cabin? The same cabin Rose and I made love for the first time in, or another one?

"She also said that it was quite cozy on the inside despite the fact that they're being held hostage. She told me to tell you, 'it's the cabin that you always used to talk about. The one where her mom would stay when she came to visit the academy.' I hope that helps you."

No. It couldn't be. Not that cabin. Anywhere else but that cabin. Rose...

"I know where she's talking about. Connor, did your mom ever tell you about how we went to a cabin before the Strigoi attack and how it was just outside the wards? Do you know anything about that?" I asked him.

"What... what cab..." His mouth formed the shape of an "o" as realization hit him. "It's that cabin?"

I nodded my head in confirmation.

"You know, when my mom first became the head guardian here, I would go and try to find her. I would always find her by this cabin where she would just be staring out into the sky. Maybe that's why she was there. To relive the memory that is. That's a long time to hold on to someone for so long." He paused for a moment and took a deep breath. "Guardian Belikov, can I ask you something?"

"Yeah, sure. What is it?"

"How old was my mom when you guys first met?"

That I was not expecting. "She was seventeen. I was twenty-four."

"Is that why you left her? Can you be honest with me and tell me why you left her in the first place?"

"No. That's not why I left her. When I left her, she was about to graduate and had turned eighteen already. Her age has nothing to do with why I left. It's very complicated." That was half true. The complicated part I mean. Her age did have some to do with why I left. But on a scale of one to ten, the rating would be around a one.

"Please, I'm begging you. Please don't hurt my mom again. Please." His eyes were pleading for me not to hurt her. Well that was something I was never going to do again. I wasn't going to make the same mistake twice.

I placed my hands on his shoulders and stared at him. "I promise to never hurt your mom again. You can trust me with that."

"Okay. Well, since that's settled, all we have to do now is come up with a plan to get Claire and Marie back."

"I agree. We should talk to your mom and see-" he cut me off.

"No! I.. I mean... I just want to keep my mom out of this. You heard what I told my mom. That Strigoi who knocked me out wants to kill her! I can't let that happen. I don't want my mom to die too. I already lost my dad..." Connor looked like he was on the verge of tears, but he quickly put his mask back in place. He was strong, just like his mom.

"Alright. We'll keep your mom out of this. But we still need to find other guardians to help us. There's no way we're going to fight this on our own," I told him.

"I know."

"Connor, go get some sleep. We've got practice in the morning. I'm going to start training you, and training you hard. While we train we'll come up with a plan. You need to be ready to attack a Strigoi." Although, I wasn't really sure if he needed to be training that hard. Rose had been his teacher for years and I had been Rose's mentor. He's learning from the best.

"I'll go. Oh, and Guardian Belikov, thank you." With that he turned and walked off towards his dorms.

I told Connor to go get some sleep but that didn't mean I was going to. I needed to find Rose, and I needed to find her fast. I needed to explain to her about why I left her. I wanted to explain before we started to fight Strigoi again.

I was walking towards my room when I heard shouting coming across the campus. I ran over to see what was happening.

I shouldn't have been so shocked to see that it was Rose who was the one screaming. I noticed that she was kicking, screaming, and thrashing around while Eddie had his arms locked around her waist trying to hold her back. Lissa was bent over trying to help someone, but I should have known that this would have replayed out in some way. It was Jesse Zeklos laying on the ground with a broken nose and blood dripping everywhere. Lissa was trying to heal him and Rose was taking the darkness away. Christian just stood along the sidelines ready to help whenever he was needed.

"Guardian Belikov! Help!" Eddie shouted. He knew what was happening too.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Same thing that happened sixteen years ago. Except this time, he was harassing Rose and not Lissa. So I'm guessing you know what happens next." Eddie was having a hard time talking because Rose was still kicking and screaming trying to free herself from Eddie's grasp. Good thing he was strong because Rose was being difficult.

Right then I knew what I needed to do.

I walked up to Rose, signaling Eddie to let go of her so I could catch her and take her back to her room. When he let go, I wrapped my arms around her waist and started dragging her off.

"Lissa, heal Lord Zeklos and get him out of here. You and I will need to talk later," I told her.

Lissa just nodded her head and went back to healing Lord Zeklos.

"Belikov, are you going to be okay with her?" Eddie asked.

"Yes. I'll be fine. Just look after Queen Dragomir and Lord Ozera."

He nodded his head yes and went over to stand by Christian. I carried a screaming Rose to her room. Once inside, I locked the door and windows so she wouldn't try to escape.

When I turned around back to Rose, I saw that she was hunched over, grasping a chair so hard that her nails were digging into it and leaving imprints.

I spoke softly. "Rose..."

She turned her head and glared at me. Oh no, this couldn't be good.

Claire POV

Oh man, does my head hurt. I tried to touch my head by my body wouldn't move. I had no control over it. Crap. What am I going to do now.

I opened my eyes to find myself in a cabin. The cabin was kind of small, but cozy at the same time. That is, if you get past the point of realizing that I'm being held hostage. But the question still remains. _How did I get here?_

The last thing I remember was Connor walking me to my door, saying goodnight and shutting the door. Then I was hit over the head. Then, nothing. I wish I could remember everything. But clearly that wasn't going to happen.

Slowly, I regained control over my body. I turned my head to the opposite side of my bed to find... Marie! Oh, no. She couldn't have been kidnapped too. Who would do something like this to her? She did nothing wrong. Unfortunately, she was still unconscious. Crap. How are we going to get out of here?

A few minutes later, I heard footsteps near the door. I quickly snapped my eyes shut and pretended to still be unconscious. Although I wasn't really sure how that was going to work since my heart was hammering inside of my chest and my breathing was back to normal. The door opened with a load creak, making me wince internally.

"Oh look. They're both still sleeping." The footsteps came closer to the bed. I then felt cold breath against my neck. Inside my head I kept chanting, _Stay Calm. Don't move. Act normal._

"She smells divine, Tasha." What?! Mom?! "Are you sure I can't taste her? She's making my mouth water."

"Don't touch her. Not yet. I want her father to come her with Rose." Rose? What does she have to do with this? "Rose held Dimka's heart since she was seventeen. Now she's finally going to get what she deserves." She chuckled darkly to herself. "Then I'll awaken Dimka and Claire. Then we can be a happy family again."

No! No, no, no, no, no, no. no. This can't be happening. This Strigoi may be the woman who gave me life, but there was no way that I was going to let her turn me and my dad, and kill Rose.

Come on Marie, wake up!

**Okay. So I know you all knew who the Strigoi was gonna be. But just wait. There is something that will shock you all! You won't even see it coming. :]**

**Hope you liked it. :]**

**(Should I start adding titles to the chapters or just leave it be?)**


	7. Chapter 7

**I KNOW I KNOW!!! It's been a long time since I've updated. But I haven't had access to my computer in a while and lots of things have been going on that I won't get into detail of. But just so you know... Now here it all is!!! With extra just for you readers.**

**Okay. So I've decided to make this whole chapter in Dimitri's POV and then the next one in Rose's POV. This will be the confrontation in the room from the end of Dimitri's POV from the last chapter. Good explanation. I know.. right.**

**The songs that inspired these two chapters is **_**Stand in the Rain**_** by Superchick and **_**Make You Feel My Love **_**by Adele.**

**Here's chapter 7 :D**

Rose's glare was the worst I have ever seen from her. It was almost as if she wanted to kill me. But I knew that it was partially from the darkness she took from Lissa. Here we go.

Rose kept on gripping the side of the chair as her breathing became more rough and staggered. I decided to break the silence from her breathing and my heart thumping loudly inside from my chest and start talking to her.

"Rose. Please. Calm down. This isn't you, it's the darkness you've consumed. Please. Calm down." I tried to speak slowly and calmly. But my voice shook the tiniest bit and my knees were shaking. I have never felt to scared to be near Rose. But I knew that if I didn't try to stop this soon, she was going to go crazy and want to actually kill someone.

"He needs to die. First, he hurt Lissa when we were teenagers. Now he decides to harass me by calling me a blood whore and a cheap piece of meat. He said all I'm good for is fighting and being used to get blood from." She gritted her teeth in frustration. I noticed her knuckles had turned white form gripping the chair so hard.

Slowly I walked up to her and tried to pry her hands away from the chair but instead she tried to attack me.

"You think you get a free pass to touch me now? You think you get a free pass, period and that I will let you get by, by putting all these cool and swift moves on me? Think again, comrade." Oh, that dreaded nickname. I hated it so much. But now was not the time to think about that. I could accidentally slip if she pushes me too far.

Slowly and, almost stalker-like, she walked towards me. Her face was set into a mask of fury. This was a look I used to see from in in every single one of our training sessions. No. I had it wrong. This was the face I saw that night in the cabin. It was that night all over again. I knew what i needed to do now. Get this darkness to escape her. But how?

Rose charged at me and took me off guard. She knocked me back into the wall by the head of her bed, and landed a punch in my stomach and let me tell you, it hurt like hell! She's become a lot stronger in the last, what, sixteen, seventeen years. She charged at me again, but this time I was prepared and knocked her backwards into her desk. She screamed out in pain but was quickly on her feet again. This time when she attacked me, she landed a blow on the side of my face but I knocked her feet out from underneath her and she fell to the ground. Her head hit the side of the bed on the way down and she screamed even louder than the last time.

As she tried to get up, her body was shaking hard. I could tell she was starting to calm down, only the tiniest fraction, though. She finally sat up, her back leaning against the side of her bed. Her finger nails were gripping the floor she was sitting on and she started to bite her lip while trying to slow her breathing down and shut her eyes.

I crouched down next to her so she couldn't escape me if she tried. I raised my hands up to the sides of her face and carefully placed my hands on her cheeks. The electricity hadn't died in sixteen years either.

"Rose," I said. "Rose, open your eyes and look at me."

Slowly her eyes fluttered open. As I stared into her eyes, I could tell the darkness was gone. The crazy Rose was out the window for now. "It did it again. It took over again. I don't know how much longer I can do this."

"Do what? What are you talking about."

She placed her hands on top of mine and removed them from her face. The look she gave me held everything I knew she wasn't letting other people show. Hurt. Betrayal. Pain. Loss. But the one that hurt me the most was what I was still feeling. The main reason for me being with her here, in her room, right now.

Love.

"Nothing. Never mind. It's not important." She waved it off with her hand and looked away from me.

"No. I hated it when you did that sixteen years ago and I still hate it now. Just tell me what it is. Maybe I can help."

"You can't help! There's nothing you can do!"

"Just tell me and we'll see. What can't you do anymore?"

She looked at me from the corner of her eye.

"How do I know that I can trust you?"

"You don't. You just need to know that I still love you. That should be enough." And it was true. I loved Rose a long time ago, and that love never died. I still love her.

She drew in a deep long breath but what she said next was not what I would have expected.

"There are a lot of things I don't know if I can do anymore. I've tried to be strong. I tried to be stong when you left me so long ago for Tasha. I put on my brave face for Connor and Lissa every single day. Especially for Adrian when he had cancer. But all the time when I'm alone, I cry at night. I cry all the time. I wish I could be stronger. But now, you're back. You're here. Everything from when I was seventeen is coming back to haunt me, and I'm becoming weaker and weaker. Lissa could see it when we were at lunch. I could feel it through the bond." Her voice was starting to shake. She took a deep breath to steady herself. "But there's so much more. More than I've told anyone. The only ones who knew what really happened after you left are Lissa and Adrian. But Adrian's not here anymore. But now, I don't know if I can even bring it up and say anything. Connor would be crushed I've kept so much from him. But he doesn't need to know this..."

Rose started to shake violently. I wrapped my arms around her and she curled into my chest as she sobbed. But what the hell did she mean that she's kept so much hidden?

"What do you mean you've kept so much hidden? What else is there?"

She sniffled. "I can't tell you."

"Why not?" I asked.

"I just... can't."

We just sat there for a while and she cried a little bit more. All this stress is too much for one person. Especially a person as strong as Rose.

I have to tell her. Soon.

**OKAY! I'll have the next chapter up in a few minutes. Maybe even I'll have three chapters. I've finally had time to write!!! I will try to be more efficient in the upcoming week. Hope you enjoyed this chapter!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Okay. So duh duh duh DAH! Here's Rose's POV of the whole thing. ENJOY PEOPLE!!! It's even the longer version of the attack and what happens. **

**I DO NOT OWN VAMPIRE ACADEMY AT ALL!!!!!!!**

**Here's chapter 8 :]

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There was too much darkness in me right now. My mind was clouded. I couldn't think straight. Lissa had healed Jesse, again. I could kill him, more now, than ever. He was harassing me so I punched him right in the gut. Then I knocked him down by punching him in his nose and broke it. Let's just say, I enjoyed it way more than I should have and it felt great. But now Lissa was healing him and again and I sucked all the darkness away from her.

I'm thinking irrationally. Eddie and Dimitri had to work together to get me away from the scene. Eddie stayed behind to guard Lissa. Dimitri took me back to my room to calm down. I gripped the chair for support because of my sudden urge to attack someone. The only someone near me right now was Dimitri. The man who broke my heart.

That thought just made me even more furious. I gritted my teeth and gripped the chair.

"Rose..." That sickening voice spoke. I knew it was Dimitri. He was the only other person in the room.

I turned my head and glared at him. He flinched a little under my stare and I could tell he knew instantly what was happening.

My hands gripped the chair harder as my breathing picked up. My blood was pulsing in my veins and I could hear the pulse in my head. I started to pant from the pain.

"Rose. Please. Calm Down," he started. "This isn't you, it's the darkness you've consumed. Please. Calm down." He spoke slowly and calmly with a slight shakiness in her voice. The fact he was trying to calm me down just made the darkness in me double to the point where my vision clouded and turned almost black.

"He needs to die. First, he hurt Lissa when we were teenagers. now he decides to harass me by calling me a blood whore and a cheap piece of meat. He said all I'm good for is fighting and being used by Moroi for blood." Jesse needs to be taken down. He needs to suffer.

I could hear him walk towards me and place his hands on top of mine trying to get my hands to stop gripping the chair. I ripped my hands away and swung my arm at his face.

"You think you get a free pass to touch me now? You think you get a free pass period and that I will let you get by, by putting all these cool and swift moves on me? Think again, Comrade." I knew how much he hated the nickname. Perfect timing for it too. His control could only last so long.

Slowly I approached him, just like they do in the movies where someone gets extremely pissed off then they attack. When I attacked I took him off guard the first time. It was amazing. Usually you can never catch the _Great Dimitri Belikov_ off guard. Subconsciously, I knew that I was being irrational and this was the darkness controlling me, but at least I was finally taking some anger out on him. He deserves it.

I knocked him back into the wall by the head of my bed. He slightly collapsed and grunted. I landed a punch to his gut. I knew he was in pain, but he didn't show it. He actually seemed suprised that I've become so strong. Take that Dimitri.

Dimitri returned my blow with a blow of his own. He pushed me back causing me to fall back into my desk and I screamed for a slight second but regained my stance. I charged toward him again and my fist made contact with his face but just as quickly he swiped my feet out from underneath me. My head it the side of my bed frame and I screamed out in pain again, only louder. I tried to get up but my arms were shaking too hard. Instead I just leaned back against the bed and started to grip the floor, digging my fingernails into it. My teeth ground into my lower lip so hard I started to taste blood. I squeezed my eyes shut and took deep breaths. I was starting to feel the darkness slip away from me as I gained my sanity back.

I could hear Dimitri slowly sit next to me. Then I felt his hands on both sides of my face. The electricity from his touch burned. Too bad sixteen years hadn't changed that. Maybe it would be easier to keep all my secrets from him. But then again, he knew how to read me like a book. It wasn't fair sometimes. I still don't know how he does it.

"Rose," he spoke quietly. "Rose, open your eyes and look at me."

I opened my eyes to find him staring right at me. His eyes still held all the concern in the world for me. Crap. How am I going to get out of this one this time?

"it did it again. I took over again. I don't know how much longer I can do this." Crap, I didn't mean to say that. It's like my mouth doesn't watch what it says whenever Dimitri is around.

"Do what? What are you talking about?"

I reached up and removed his hands from my face. If I can't have him, I can't let him touch me like that. Love sucks.

"Nothing. Never mind. It's not important," I told him and I waved my hand as if to dismiss it as I looked away from him.

"No. I hated it when you did that sixteen years ago and I still hate it now. Just tell me what it is. Maybe I can help."

"You can't help! There's nothing you can do!" I needed him to leave this alone so I didn't accidentally tell him what he is never supposed to know. Only two people know the truth, and one of them is dead. So that just leaves the other one and me. No one else.

"Just tell me and we'll see. What can't you do anymore?"

I could hear the desperation and pleading in his voice. He really did want to help.

"How do I know that I can trust you?" I asked.

"You don't. You just need to know that I still love you. That should be enough."

For some reason those words were all it took for me to start gushing out the words I never thought I would say.

"There are a lot of things I don't know if I can do anymore. I've tried to be strong. I tried to be stong when you left me so long ago for Tasha. I put on my brave face for Connor and Lissa every single day. Especially for Adrian when he had cancer. But all the time when I'm alone, I cry at night. I cry all the time. I wish I could be stronger. But now, you're back. You're here. Everything from when I was seventeen is coming back to haunt me, and I'm becoming weaker and weaker. Lissa could see it when we were at lunch. I could feel it through the bond." Her voice was starting to shake. I took a deep breath to steady herself. "But there's so much more. More than I've told anyone. The only ones who knew what really happened after you left are Lissa and Adrian. But Adrian's not here anymore. But now, I don't know if I can even bring it up and say anything. Connor would be crushed I've kept so much from him. But he doesn't need to know this..."

I tried to tell him everything, without giving too much information away. But once I told him this, my body started to shake violently. I felt Dimitri's arm's wrap around my shoulders and I started to sob as I curled into his chest.

"What do you mean you've kept so much hidden? What else is there?" he asked.

I sniffled. "I can't tell you." But I wish I could though.

"Why not?"

"I just... can't."

We sat there for a little while until finally I broke the silence.

"Why did you really come back? To St. Vlad's, I mean."

He froze. This can't be good.

"If I tell you, you have to promise me you won't go around doing anything about it. You have to let me take care of all of it. You can't get so hot headed that you go off and try to solve everything yourself. We don't need another Spokane incident," I flinched, "especially if Claire and Marie are missing."

"I don't get hot headed."

"Rose..." he warned.

"Okay, okay. I promise. Now what is it?"

This time he had to take a deep breath before he spoke.

"As you know, I left sixteen years ago to take Tasha up on her offer and she gave birth to Claire. She's my only child you know. Well, anyways. Tasha and I were married for thirteen years before something horrible happened. One day we were out, just me and Tasha. Claire was with Lissa and Christian at the time. Tasha and I were walking around when I was knocked out. But the next time I woke up, Tasha was gone. I went to the house, I looked all around, I called Lissa and Christian to see if she had gone to pick up Claire without me knowing. But every where I went, everyone I talked to said they hadn't seen or heard from her. I wasn't sure what to make of it. I thought she was dead for two years. Claire was in a serious depression for a long time. But that's when the notes started coming. All the notes, from Tasha. She had been turned. Every time the notes said something along the lines of, you will be with me forever, daughter and all. So I finally decided it was time to move away from Russia and back to St. Vlad with Claire so I could keep her safe. But look how that turned out. Claire is missing, and so is Lissa's daughter."

Dimitri ran a hand through his hair, frustrated. I placed my arm around his waist as I rested my head on his shoulder.

"I just don't know what to do now! I want to find her so bad. But how am I going to do that when I have no idea where to start..."

"Take a deep breath and calm down. You'll figure this out. You saved me in..." I cringed, "in Spokane. You'll save Claire and Marie too." I don't think he needs any more to worry about. He doesn't need to know what I still have to tell him. Should I tell him?

Yes.

I have to now. There's no other choice.

"Dimitri, I know you're worried about Claire and all but there's something I have to tell you. And if I don't tell you now, then I'm never going to be able to."

"What is it?"

Remember how I said, that no one really knew the truth except for Adrian and Lissa about what happened after you left me?" He nodded. "Well there's a reason no one knows. After you left, I was a wreck. I wouldn't eat, I couldn't sleep, I wouldn't talk to anyone. That is, until I started getting really sick. I was getting sick all the time and for some reason, I couldn't figure out why. But when I went to the doctor, there wasn't anything wrong with me. In fact, as she put it, it was a miracle this even happened to me. All because of my stupid shadow kissed powers. Remember the night in the cabin?" He nodded again. "That night was amazing. But, I didn't know anything could happen. The doctor told me I was pregnant. I had only had sex with you so I couldn't figure out how you could be the father."

I paused for a second, letting all this sink in as Dimitri put his guardian mask back on. The one I knew and saw so much of when he was my mentor.

"I guess because I died and came back, I was able to reproduce a child with another dhampir. I wanted to call you as soon as I found out the news. But I knew I couldn't. You were going to marry Tasha and have a family. So instead of running around after graduation, pregnant, I told Lissa what had happened and ran off to California till I had the baby. I gave the baby up for adoption in California before I came back to Montana to guard Lissa at Court. I haven't heard from our child in seventeen years and I don't plan on it. I'm so sorry for not telling you a long time ago. But you broke my heart and I knew that if I kept our baby, I would have been broken the whole time and she would have been shipped off to the academy like my mom did with me. I couldn't do it She reminded me so much of you in the face. I'm sorry. I just couldn't."

Dimitri just stared at me for a long time, not saying anything. Finally he broke the silence.

"Rose, you should have called me! I would have come back! We could have had a family together! We could have raised that child. You and me! I have been dreaming of that for seventeen years and you are just now telling me that we could have had a family? I can't believe you!" He pushed himself away from me and stood up.

"I'm so sorry." Tears were starting to fall from my eyes. "I shouldn't have told you."

He looked at me. Next thing I know he was by my side wiping the tears out of my eyes. "No. I'm glad you told me. At least I know now what could have been. Can you forgive me for leaving?"

I tried to put my snarky attitude into my next words.

"I'll have to think about it."

I smiled at him and he smiled back.

Maybe we could love each other again. Well, that is once we get this whole Tasha mess straightened out.

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**So I hope you liked it! I tried to make it longer than normal. But there was so much and I was afraid to put different POVs in this chapter and there was so much going on that it almost felt like too much for just this one chapter. But then again, putting different twists and turns onto the whole things also makes it fun to write.**

**I have never been one to ask for reviews but I am curious as to what you think of these last couple chapters so please tell me. :] I'd be very appreciative. **


	9. Chapter 9

**Here's another chapter of the story. Hopefully I'll write this whole week. Nothing too major going on so I should be able to post a lot more frequently than I have been. /:]**

**I DO NOT OWN VAMPIRE ACADEMY OR ANY OF THE CHARACTERS except the ones I made up.**

**Here's chapter 9!

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_Dimitri POV_

I can't believe that Rose and I have a child and she kept this from me for seventeen years! I didn't even get a say in this. If I had known Rose was carrying a baby that I had fathered, I would have come running back to her immediately. For years, I had dreamed that Rose would be the mother of children who were not only hers, but mine as well. If I had known, I would have never left.

Rose and I were still in her room. She had just told me the news and she was in my arms. I knew this was going to end soon, so I decided to let it last as long as it could.

Slowly, Rose sat back up and looked at me. Her eyes were full of questions.

"Dimirti..."

"What is it?"

"Why did you really leave me?" she asked.

I knew this was coming. I was gonna try and avoid the question. But if I ever wanted her to forgive me, I needed to tell her the truth. That also involves the reason as to why I left. Well, here goes nothing.

"Rose..." What a great way to start out. "The reason I left was because I wanted you to have a better life. I didn't want to get in the way of you guarding Lissa. I didn't want to get in the way of you having a normal life. I wanted you to be safe. The day I left, it was the hardest day of my life. It was not easy to try and do that. I almost told you at one of our training sessions. But then Tasha said we were leaving in the morning and I knew I had run out of time. So I just left, without saying goodbye. I know you were angry with me, and still are. But never, not even for one second, have I stopped loving you. This is going to sound totally harsh, but after the first couple months of Tasha being gone, I was glad. That meant that I could come back to you. But then I heard you were still with Adrian, so I didn't push it. So I did what I had to. Put on a mask, and raised Claire."

I took a deep breath to steady myself.

Rose looked up at me. Love filled her eyes, along with sadness.

"I'm sorry," she said abruptly.

"For what?"

"For attacking you. I understand you left because you wanted me safe. But, I don't forgive you quite yet. I still need to let the reason sink in a little more."

"Okay. I guess I deserve that."

Rose started to stand up pulling me up with her.

"Come on. I need to see Lissa, and you need to figure out how we're going to save Claire and Marie. I'm not letting you do this alone."

"Rose, Tasha is the Strigoi. She wants to kill you! I'm not going to let you die! I've seen you broken, and I don't know if I can handle seeing you dead. Please. For me."

"Dimitri. Marie is my best friend's daughter. There is no way I'm letting you out there on your own. Not without me. You trained me yourself and I've gotten so much better now."

The look I saw on her face told me there was no arguing with her.

"Okay. But if Tasha starts to go after you, I'm going to protect you," I told her.

"Dimitri, that's really sweet but-" I cut her off.

"No buts. We're doing this my way if you're going."

"Fine. Alright. Let's get out of here. But first..."

Rose stepped in closer to me and my breathing hitched. She was so close now, I could smell her wonderful scent.

Gently, her lips brushed mine sending a spark of electricity shoot down my spine. I missed her so much.

"Thanks," she said as she headed out the door.

I watched her disappear into the hallway feeling the tingling sensation that was still left in my lips.

But once she was out of sight, my mind started to compose a plan as to how we were going to get Claire and Marie back. Rose, me, and Christian Ozera. I hope he's going to be okay with this.

_Lissa POV_

I was in my office trying to figure out how we were gonna save Marie and Claire. Marie is my baby girl! There was no way I was going to let her die! Rose would get us out of this! She always knows what to do.

I know, I know. It's very selfish of me to rely on Rose for everything. But it's not like I know how to fight. I'd end up killed or something and then there would be no headmistress of this academy. Although, I wouldn't mind letting someone else be queen. The jobs I hold are just ridiculous sometimes.

I sat at my desk with my head in my hands when I heard the door open. I looked up to see Christian walking towards me.

"Hey honey. You doing okay?" he asked.

"No. I'm not. Marie is missing and I don't know where she is. I'm so scared that she might die. She could be killed or even turned Strigoi! I can't let that happen!" I shouted.

"Shh. Shh. It's okay," he chanted as he came to my side and wrapped his arms around me. "We'll find her. She's going to be okay. Rose and Dimitri are going to find her."

"Yeah. As long as Rose doesn't kill him first."

"Yeah. You're right about that one." He laughed. "Look, there's a reason I came up here."

I just stared at him for a moment waiting for him to continue.

"As you know, Rose and I kicked butt against Strigoi as a team when we were seniors. Well, I don't want you to get mad when I tell you this next part. But... I'm going out with them to find Marie."

I froze.

No. He was not going out there. I couldn't lose my daughter and my husband. That was not going to happen. No way, no how.

"No. You're not."

"Yes. I am. I have to."

"No, Christian. I'm not going to have this."

Christian took my hands in his. "Liss, I know you're scared. But you have to trust me. I'm not going to get killed. I'm going to be with several guardians, one of them being not only the best guardian in the world, but your best friend, and I have my elements to protect me too. I'm not going to get hurt."

I knew he was trying to reason with me. He had every right. But I wasn't sure if I was ready for him to be out there too. There was a difference between dhampirs and Moroi being in the battle field against Strigoi. Yes. I mean, don't get me wrong. I love dhampirs. My best friend is one. She's one of the best guardians around. But, Christian is a Moroi, a royal Moroi, and most importantly, my husband. But... there was a difference between the two. Rose is trained. Christian just knows how to use his powers to light them on fire. He and Rose killed them, together.

Crap.

"Okay." I told him.

"Okay what?"

"Okay... I won't stop you from going."

I looked down away from him. There was no way I was going to be able to look at him. I didn't want to cry in front of him. Dang it! Rose is so strong. Why can't I be strong, just like her?

Christian tilted my chin up to his face and he gently pressed his lips to mine.

"Thanks, Lissa. I know you're scared. But we'll find her. I promise."

I just looked at him. He seemed so sure of himself. I guess I would just have to trust him on this one.

Suddenly, my office door swung open, revealing a scared Rose. She was never scared. So this had to be bad enough.

"Lissa, I just did something terrible. I didn't mean to do it!"

"Rose, calm down." I stood up walking over to her and held the sides of her arms. "Tell me what happened."

Rose just stared at me for a second. "I told him."

"You told him what exactly?"

"i told him. About the baby."

I stood there shocked. I had no idea she was going to tell him!

I had completely forgotten that Christian was in the room until he was right beside us looking confused.

"What baby? Care to explain?"

"Rose, why did you tell him about the baby? He didn't deserve to know!"

"I know Liss! I know! I didn't mean to! But something happened and I ended up telling him!" she shouted.

"Will someone please tell me what's going on?" Christian asked.

"I had a baby with Dimitri seventeen years ago. But i moved out to California for a few months and gave the baby up for adoption. Okay? Happy?" she said.

"Rose, only Adrian and I knew about this! Why did you just tell Christian? Not to be mean or anything, but this was something we kept a secret! Adrian took it to the grave. But you just told Dimitri? He left you! Remember? I know I told you to give him a chance but I didn't mean for you to tell him about the baby you left behind! What if he wants to go looking for her?"

"I don't know," she whispered.

Suddenly, the room was quiet. No one spoke. Rose just stared down at the floor, Christian had his mouth hanging wide open from the news, and I just stared at Rose. Things had gotten very tense.

"Rose, have you told Connor yet?" Christian asked suddenly.

She just glanced at him quickly then back down to the floor. "No. I haven't."

"Are you ever going to?"

"I don't know."

Rose walked over to a chair and sat down placing her elbows on her knees and setting her head into her hands. I sat down next to her and gently rubbed her back with my hand.

"Everything is going to be alright Rose. Trust me."

"Okay. I do."

Suddenly, there was a knock on my door.

"For goodness sakes! Why does everyone insist on talking to me tonight!" I said frustrated.

"Queen, Headmistress Dragomir, I'm sorry to interrupt, but I have the new transfer student here with me. I know it's a bad time, but I thought you would like to meet her," Guardian Petrov told me. Quickly she looked between me, Rose, and Christian. "Oh, it's a good thing you're here too Rose. This child is going to be a guardian and needs a mentor. I know that you're mentoring Claire too, but I thought you could mentor this new one too."

"Yes, yes Alberta. That's fine. I would be happy to mentor the new transfer."

"Guardian Petrov, please bring in this fine young student. I would like to meet her."

"Yes. Of course."

Alberta stepped out into the hallway for a moment and I walked around behind my desk to stand facing the door. Rose came a stood on the side of the desk while Christian just backed up against the wall.

The door opened once more to reveal Alberta once more, but the new student couldn't be seen.

"Queen Dragomir, Rose, I would like to introduce you to the newest student here, Ms. Paige Solstice."

Paige stepped out fro behind Alberta to face me and Rose.

"Hi Paige. It's very nice to..." I stopped mid-sentence.

Rose gasped.

This can't be happening...

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**This should leave you hanging. What could make them gasp? Maybe it's scars all over her face and hands. Maybe she has a troubled past that you don't know about. OOOH!!!!! haha. post more later!**

**Later Gater!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Thanks for all the reviews guys! I love them :D This chapter is kinda long so I hope you like it.**

**Chapter 10 :]

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_Rose POV_

Holy... How the hell did this happen? I mean, I know how it happened. But why was this I first heard about her coming to this academy? I can see a look on her face that tells me she doesn't want to be here. She just wants to get away from us and be on her own.

Lissa still seemed frozen after Paige first showed her face. I wonder if she could really be my daughter. The child that Dimitri fathered. She looks so much like him too. She has my long dark hair with his eyes and mouth but with my nose, and of course my attitude. I just hope she gained some of Dimitri's control too. Oh, my. Why am I already making assumptions about her. For all I know, she could just look like us but be the daughter of another woman who gave birth to her.

When Lissa didn't make a move, I unfroze and spoke up.

"Hi Paige. It's nice to meet you. I'm Rose Hathaway, the head Guardian here at St. Vlad. As you know, this is Vasilisa Dragomir. The headmistress here, and the queen." Paige just stared at me and didn't say anything. "Queen Dragomir, why don't you get Miss Solstice her schedule and room assignments so I can show her to her room."

Lissa finally moved from her stance. "Yes. That I can do."

"Paige, why don't you wait outside and I'll meet you there in a minute."

Paige just turned around and walked off without a word. Great. So much like me. Except with Dimitri's control. Just what I wanted. Fantastic.

"Rose... did... did you see her?" Lissa asked me once the door was completely shut.

"Yeah, Rose. She looked almost like a mini version of you and Belikov. Who knew," Christian piped in. How did I forget he was still in the room?

"Shut up you two. She could hear us. Yes of course I saw her. How could I not. She was standing right there. Lissa, I need you to call... wait no! Christian! I need you to call Dimitri for me and tell him I need to meet with him in twenty minutes in the gym. Normally I wouldn't go there, but it seems like a safe place to talk. It has mats and everything. Don't tell him anything though." I said.

"Yeah. No problem. I just love being your little slave."

"Oh just shut it and do this for me. Too much has happened tonight and I don't need your sarcastic ass ruining all this. Just do it," I told him.

"Okay. Fine. Go."

"Hey, Liss. Thanks again. Oh, and you and I will talk later. Okay? We'll find Marie. Don't worry."

"Thanks, Rose. You're the best."

With that I walked outside of Lissa's office to find Paige sitting on the floor, knees curled up into her chest and her head in her knees.

"Hey, Paige. You ready?" I asked.

She looked up at me with tears in her eyes.

"Hey, hey. What's wrong. Are you okay?"

She glared at me. "No. I'm not okay. I just moved away from the one place that I call home. I moved away from my best friend and boyfriend to be sent here in the middle of nowhere to find that I'm all alone again. Just like I was my whole life. No thanks to the woman who ditched me after I was born."

I flinched. I hoped she didn't notice because that one hurt. A lot.

"Well, on our way to your room, why don't you tell me what you've been through. Maybe it'll help." I told her. Not only that, I wanted to know what she has been up to for the last seventeen years.

"Okay." Wow. She agreed easily? So not like me or Dimitri for that matter. We're both stubborn.

I helped her stand up from the floor and we started to make our way to her room.

"So tell me," I started. "What have you been through?"

She took a deep breath to steady herself.

"When I was born, the woman who had me either didn't want me or couldn't take care of me. But I never really found out. To this day I still don't know who my biological parents are, as sad as it seems. When I first realized I had no parents, I was four. I was living in a foster home out in California. When I was six, finally someone came and took me in to live with them. I was actually happy to have family. But I screwed it all up when I beat up their oldest son. I was nine. They were so mad at me, they shipped me back to the foster home. I became angry, upset, and lonely for the longest time. Finally, when I was twelve, another family adopted me. This lasted longer. But once I moved to one of the academies near California, the family I was with at the time didn't want me anymore. So I lived and breathed that academy. I was sixteen when they decided they didn't need me. I used to get into a lot of fights too. That's why they decided to move me to another school So here I am now. I'm almost eighteen. I could have had a choice if I would have stayed back in California. But I had no choice. I had to move here to the middle of nowhere to go to a school where I don't know anyone and school is almost over for the year." Tears started to fall from her eyes. "From when I was four, to when I was fifteen, I was so mad at my birth mom for giving me up. I used to scream all the time asking why she would do that to me. But one day, I traced my records back to the hospital where I was born." Oh no. I took a deep breath steadying myself for what came next.

"When I asked the hospital if I could see my birth certificate, they told me no. They said that my mom had taken the only copies with her. That she wouldn't let the staff keep it on file. I still wonder who she is, but at this point I don't even care anymore. She left me behind, so I can leave her behind."

Ouch.

"Paige, I'm so sorry you had to go through that. That's not a life that anyone deserves." And it truly wasn't. If I had known what she had gone through, I would have picked her up as soon as I could even if the memories were painful. Why hadn't I kept her?

"It's okay Guardian Hathaway. I just learn to deal with it. I try to look after others. I would rather get myself killed for others instead of worrying about myself. It's who I am."

Oh my goodness. She is totally our child.

Right on cue, I saw Dimitri heading towards the gym where we were supposed to meet. But as soon as he saw me, he froze. This can't be good.

"Guardian Belikov!" I shouted at him. "Come over here."

Slowly, he walked over to where Paige and I stood. He just stared at her. When he looked at me, I just shook my head.

"Paige, I would like you to meet Guardian Dimitri Belikov. He was my mentor when I attended this school. Oh, and now he's a great Guardian. Guardian Belikov, I would like you to meet Paige Solstice. She is a new transfer student here at the academy."

Dimitri seemed at a loss for words. Great.

"Okay. Well, if you don't mind, I'm going to show Paige to her room and I'll meet you in the gym in a few minutes. Is that okay with you?" I asked.

He finally regained his voice. "Y-yes. That's perfectly fine with me. It was very nice to meet you Miss Solstice." He shot me a look saying that we were going to have to talk about this later. I totally agreed.

"Nice to meet you too, Guardian Belikov."

With that we left him standing in the middle of the path as we made our way to her room.

When we arrived, I handed her the keys and the schedule she would need to follow.

"If there's anything you need, please come and find me. I would be more than happy to help. Oh, and by the way, I'm going to be your mentor while you're here. Despite all the fights that you've been in, your record shows that you are one of the best back out there. Here, we'll just make you better."

She nodded. "Thank you so much, Guardian Hathaway."

I shook my head. "Please. Call me Rose."

"Okay, Rose. Thanks again."

I nodded my head once more and left her in her room to make my way to the gym to meet with Dimitri. He's going to have a mouthful to say when I get there. Great. Just great.

Paige POV

Ugh. It's my first day here and already I don't like it. So far, all the guardians here have looked at me like there's something wrong with me. But when I walked into the headmistress' office, I noticed a woman who looked a lot like me, it was quite scary. But the man, Dimitri, or whatever his name is, scared me too. He looked like me as well. And the tension between the two was so intense it made me uncomfortable to be around them.

I've heard a lot about both of these people.

Rose Hathaway was, or is one of the best guardians to have ever lived. She killed Strigoi when she was only seventeen and she just kicks some major butt. Dimitri Belikov is a Russian who fights like no tomorrow. He's quick and light on his feet and can kill Strigoi quickly. Not only that, he trained Rose himself. He made her what she is today. That's just crazy. But what do you expect when the greatest guardian teams up with a novice. He's going to make her as good as she could ever be. That's how she's going to train me too. Great. Fan-freaking-tastic.

I noticed that all my things were already in my room too. I guess that's what happens when guardians get ahold of your stuff and decide to take it away.

I started to unpack a little bit when there was a note that had fallen out of one of the boxes. I had never seen this letter before in my life. But it had my name on it.

Quickly I opened it up to find that the letter was from my birth mom. I gasped as I started to read the letter.

_My dearest daughter,_

_ I know you're going to be angry with me when you find that I had to leave you. Don't worry. It's not like I wanted to give you up. But I had to let you go. I was still in high school when I found out I was pregnant with you. I had no idea that you were going to come. But when I found out you were expected, I ran off to California where you are now and able to read this. I ran off so that I could leave you there to have a normal life. You weren't going to have that if I stuck around. I would have just shipped you off to an academy like my own mother did to me. I resented her for years. But somehow now we have a closer relationship than we've had in years. I don't mean to leave you behind. But this is something that has to be done._

_ I hope to come back to find you in the later years when you're grown and a guardian. But if you want to know about your family, your parents, then you should know who we are._

_ Your father is a good man. A man who has a drive to protect the ones he loves. That was including me but he left me. Your father is a dhampir just like me. Most everyone knows that two dhampirs can't have children together. Well at the time, I didn't know your father and I could. I'm shadow kissed, which means I was brought back form the dead. This means I'm able to have children with other dhampirs. Know your father is a good man. But he knows nothing about you. I never told him I was pregnant with you._

_ Please don't go looking after us. As much as you want to, I need you to stay put. Know that I love you and will never stop thinking about you. I love you so much._

_Love,_

_Your Mom._

I looked up from the letter to find that I was crying. I was the only person in existence to know that I was a child of two dhampirs. I wonder who they could be.

Rose had told me I could go to her anytime I wanted. Well I need to see her now.

I ran out of my room towards the gym, well what I assumed was the gym, and stopped just shy of the doors. They were wide open and I could hear two people talking. I looked in to see Rose and Dimitri sitting in the middle of the floor on the mats.

I decided I wouldn't interrupt them so I sat in a corner very quietly while I listened to them talk.

"Dimitri, I don't know what to do. I didn't expect for her to come here. She has no idea that I gave her up when I was eighteen. She has no idea that I'm her mother."

Woah, wait. What? Is Rose my mom?

"Rose, it's going to be okay. I just found out you had our child this morning and I could totally see it. I really do think she's going to be okay if she finds out." he spoke.

"It's not that simple. I don't know if I can tell her."

"Yes. You have to tell her. You have to tell Paige we are her parents." No! "Rose. You kept this from me for eighteen years. She stopped looking for you a long time ago. I think it's time she finally found out who her real mom is."

I decided to step out into the open so they could see me.

I saw Dimitri look up and freeze. Rose turned around to see who it was and the expression on her face told me she was shocked.

"Rose, how could you not tell me you were my mom? How come you left me eighteen years ago? What did I do to deserve this?" I sobbed.

She quickly got up and came over to wrap her arms around me. This is the most love I've felt from anyone in my entire life. But I was so angry with her at the same time.

"I'm sorry. I couldn't take care of you. I had no where to go. I had no money. I thought you would have been in better hands if I left you behind and didn't contact you. But then you came here and I finally got my daughter back after all." That just made me sob harder.

"Paige, it's okay. We both love you."

"Woah, you're my father? How the hell did this happen? I thought you were her mentor?"

Dimitri just shook his head. "No. We were lovers. But then I left and I didn't know you're mom was pregnant. She never contacted me. I would have come to find you if I had known."

"Dimitri you didn't deserve to know. You left me for that evil woman!" she yelled at him.

"Yes i did! Rose, I wanted to start a family with you! That's all I ever dreamed about for over seventeen years! Now our child is here! We can start clean. We can all be together again!" she shouted right back.

Man. Maybe living seventeen years without them was a good thing. They seem to really love and hate each other at the same time.

Rose pulled back to stand by Dimitri. She took a deep breath to steady herself.

"Paige... I'm sorry I gave you up. But I had no choice. I couldn't tell anyone. I had only told Lissa, or Queen Dragomir as you know her, and my husband who is now six-feet-under. I wanted to come and find you for a long time, but I couldn't leave. Not without my son finding out. And now I'm going to have to tell him once this whole mess with Claire and Marie is settled and they're saved."

"And just so you know, I've only known about you since this morning, but I love you no matter what. You're my little girl who I didn't get to see grow up. But I would like to see you grow into a beautiful young woman. Rose and I want to become a family with you, and not mention Connor and Claire."

I couldn't believe it. After all these years, I finally found my mother, my father, and I got siblings in the middle of all of it. Maybe things would be good from now on.

"I would love that," I told them.

Rose walked up to me to hug me again and i hugged her back. Dimitri wrapped his arms around both of us. I felt like I had an actual family now. Things can't get any better than this. Mom and Dad, hugging me.

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**So there you have it! I'll have more up later!**

**Thanks again for reading.**


	11. Chapter 11

**I know you guys probably hate me for not updating sooner! But my life has just been hectic and I may not update for a while again. I'm so sorry. My season is almost over so I'll try to finish the story as soon as I can.**

**This next chapter is getting things to move along again. So I just hope you guys like it. :]**

**Chapter 11

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_Marie POV_

I had no idea where I was when I woke up. All I could see were unfamiliar surroundings and wood. I guess I was in a cabin somewhere. Slowly, I tried to sit up. My head started spinning and I dropped back onto the... bed? How the hell did I end up here? It doesn't make sense. I moved my head to feel someone next to me. I instantly tensed. But I found that it was only Claire, my cousin. I felt a little bit safer right then. I knew we were in deep trouble and danger as soon as I woke up. I just wasn't sure how much.

Claire stirred next to me and I quickly sat up on my knees. I started to shake her so she would wake up and we could figure out what's going on.

"Claire," I whispered. "Claire, wake up. Come on, Claire. Get up now!"

"Five more minutes," she said.

Great. Now I'm gonna have to push her off the bed. Instead and I shook her even harder. When she didn't get up, I bent down next to her and decided to wake her up like I would when we were seven.

"Claire, there's a giant muffin waiting for you in the kitchen. Get up!" I screamed into her ear.

She sat straight up and instantly took in our surroundings.

"Oh my god, Marie! You're finally awake!" Instantly she wrapped her arms around me and pulled me close.

"Woah there, Claire. What are you talking about? How long have we been here. What happened?"

"I'm not sure. We've been here for a while now. And my mom is behind the whole thing. She turned Strigoi and captured us. She wants revenge on Rose and my dad. She wants to kill you and Rose and turn me and Dad. Marie, I can't let her do this. It's all her fault. You've been asleep ever since and my mom and the man left a while ago. They'll be back soon to see if we're awake yet."

I froze. Oh no. I remember Rose telling me a story about this. She said she had been captured by Strigoi. My dad was with her along with Guardian Castille, or Eddie, Mia Rinaldi, and some guy named Mason. Unfortunately Mason didn't make it. She told me how she got out of it. Unfortunately, Claire is a novice still, a good novice though, and I'm a Spirit user, just like my mom. My dad had used Fire to get them out of their situation. Unfortunately, neither of us were fire users. Harold was.

Wait! That's right!

When Harold and I were born, we were born with a connection no other twins had. We could communicate telepathically. He could hear what I had to say and I could hear him. Why hadn't I thought of this before! Oh, right. Because I was asleep.

"Claire, do you know where a piece of paper and a pen are?" I asked.

"Yeah. I'll be right back."

She got up and headed towards the kitchen. She opened a drawer and pulled out a pad of paper and a pen. She walked back over to the bed and handed it to me.

Quickly, I started writing down my info just in case there were Strigoi listening.

_I know how we're going to get out of this. I just remembered that Harold and I have this connection that we share. We can hear each other. We can speak through our minds. I can tell him that we are in trouble, if the others haven't figured it out already, and he can go get help!_

Claire just stared at me. She then ripped the paper and pen out of my hands and started to write.

_Why didn't you think of this earlier?! This could have easily been solved earl... oh. Right. You were asleep. I forgot. But here's the thing. I don't want Rose anywhere near here. My mom can't kill her. Not only would it kill Connor, but it would kill my dad as well. He loves her so much and only wants her to be safe. Please. Just please tell them to not let Rose come. If you need help, I can write down whatever you need to know. Just... Please!_

I took the paper back and read her message. I instantly started to write again.

_I promise. I'll tell them not to bring her._

She gave me a look that said she was great-full. I immediately got to work on contacting Harold.

_"Harold! Please tell me you can hear me right now." _ I asked in my head.

_Woah, yeah I can hear you. You sound like you're about to explode. What's going on?_

_ "Well, Claire and I have been captured by Aunt Tasha. She was turned Strigoi years ago and wants to turn Uncle Dimitri and Claire. She also wants to kill Rose. You need to get help!" I _practically screamed at him.

_ Oh, holy shit. That's why everyone has been running around here all frantic. Yeah. I'm going right now to Uncle Dimitri and Rose._

_ "No, Harold. You can't go to Rose. Uncle Dimitri and Claire don't want Rose in this. They both want her to stay away. Please. Just don't let her come along."_

_ But, Marie. She is one of the best guardians out there. She could find you easily. So could Dad. They're a team. Remember? They fought Strigoi together back when they were in high school. Not to mention that she was also captured by Strigoi and would want to help out. Do you not remember what she, Dad, and Mom told us?_

_ "Yes, I remember everything she had said. But seriously, you can not let her come along. It's too much of a risk for her. Uncle Dimitri loves her. Remember? We had this conversation with him when we were fifteen."_

_ How could I forget. Oh, I'm at his room now. I need to tell him where you guys are. Can you tell me?_

I looked over at Claire to see if she knew where on earth we could be. "Where are we?"

"We're in a cabin somewhere just outside the wards of the school."

"_I guess we're in a cabin outside of the wards of the school. Or at least that's what Claire is telling me."_

_ Okay, I'll let him know. Please tell me if anything happens. I need to know where you are at all times._

_ "Okay, Harold. But please hurry. I'm scared."_

Just as soon as I finished with Harold, Tasha and a really ugly man come walking in through the door. Wait, this man looks kind of familiar. Where have I seen him before?

"Oh, look, Victor! They're awake!"

No way! Victor Dashkov? The guy who tried to lock away my mom and ruin Rose's life? Oh shit. We're in trouble.

"Now, now Tasha. We can't do anything terrible. Not yet anyways."

"Oh, Claire. I've missed you so much! I'm so glad that you finally woke up!"

"Well I didn't do it for you, _mother_." She spat mother as if it was a dirty word. At this point, I was agreeing with her.

"Oh now, Claire. You need to watch your manners. I know I didn't teach you this way."

Claire didn't respond. She just glared at her mother.

_"Harold. Do you remember Mom and Rose telling us about Victor Dashkov?"_

_ Yes, why do you ask?_

_ "He's here. With Aunt Tasha. He's the other man behind of the evil schemes._

_ No way! Oh man. Uncle Dimitri is gonna be furious. Man, now is a good time for Rose to stay away._

_ "Harold don't tell Mom either! But please tell dad! He can help Uncle Dimka."_

_ Okay, Marie. But please stay safe._

"Look. It's the lovely Marie. Now certainly we can take her. I mean, she's not important to this. She's just Lissa's and Christian's daughter. I mean, yes. Christian is my nephew and this would kill him, but I don't really care right now."

Tasha walked closer to me and I cringed in fear.

"She smells delicious." I could feel her teeth graze my neck.

Slowly, her fangs bit deep into my skin. I screamed at the pain. She drank blood until I could no longer feel the endorphines rushing through my blood, and blacked out.

_Dimitri's POV_

Paige, Rose and I were now a reunited family. Despite the fact that less than twelve hours ago, I was told about my child with Rose, I was extremely happy. This was almost as great of a moment as when Claire was born.

Paige didn't exactly have the easiest life while growing up. She told me about how she was put in several different foster homes and lived with two families. She was kicked out until she moved to the academy in California. She was always getting in to trouble and was busted for fighting numerous times. Sounds just like her mother. She has Rose's long, beautiful dark hair and adorable nose. She has my mouth and eye color and her skin tone was a shade in between mine and Rose's. Overall, she was a tanned beauty, just like her mother.

We were spending time just getting to know her, until Lissa's son Harold, came running over to us. He looked so out of breath. He must have been running.

"Uncle Dimitri, may I talk to you for a moment?" he asked.

"Yeah, sure. What is it?"

"Uh... Can we talk in private?"

I gave him a skeptical look. I didn't like the way he sounded. He sounded as if he were desperate and was trying to keep something from someone. But who could that be?

"Okay. If you wish."

I kissed Rose on the lips and hugged Paige before I walked out the door with Harold.

"Marie contacted me."

"What do you mean she 'contacted' you?"

He rolled his eyes. "I mean exactly what I said. Did my mom ever tell you that Marie and I share a special connection that no other set of twins have?"

"No. She didn't. Would you care to explain this to me?"

"Well, when Marie and I were born, we were born with this special bond or connection. We can speak to each other in our minds. I guess you could call it telepathy."

"What does this have anything to do with?"

"She told me where they are. Her and Claire. I had no idea that they were even missing until she had contacted me through this. She also told me who is behind all of this."

I just stared at him. I can not believe that we hadn't thought of this earlier. I mean, yeah I didn't know about the bond that he and his sister had. But Christian and Lissa did. How the hell could they not have thought of this earlier.

Harold must have noticed my mental argument because he spoke quickly.

"My parents don't know about the bond. We've been keeping it a secret from them for years. We couldn't tell them because then they would have wanted to test us like lab-rats and make sure we weren't cheating or anything like that. It was ridiculous. But now, it's come in complete use."

"Oh," was all I could say. I felt stupid,

"There's a reason I couldn't tell you infront of Rose and... whoever that girl was. But man that girl was hot." He shouldn't have said that because now my anger was boiling over. "Anyways, the reason I couldn't tell Rose was because the people behind it want to kill her. Well, Aunt Tasha more specifically. She wants Rose dead. Claire wants to protect her and I know you do too. Plus this would kill Connor and my mom as well. Please. Marie also gave me some advice."

"What was it that she said?"

"Go ask my dad to help you. Remember? I know you were there in Spokane. Well, you were one of the rescuers, but my dad was the one to melt the cuffs with his fire." Ouch. I really didn't want to talk about Spokane. "And he was the one who helped Rose kill all the Strigoi when they attacked the school. Please. My dad can help."

I just stared at him. How could I go ask Christian to help me. He was so mad at me for leaving Rose too. I mean, yeah he was happy for his aunt but he still hadn't liked me because of Rose. He even told me himself.

"I don't know, Harold. I don't think your dad has forgiven me yet."

"Oh who cares! This is Marie we're talking about! She's in danger! Along with Claire! My dad loves them both. Just please get my sister and cousin back."

He knew that Claire wasn't really his cousin, they were just related. But that still didn't mean that they didn't call each other cousins.

"Okay, Harold. I will."

"Oh, and it's Victor Dashkov who's behind all of this. Just so you know." With that he walked away.

No. Victor could not be back. I thought he was dead. He was supposed to be dead a long time ago. How could Tasha and Victor be working together?

Everything is so fucked up now.

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**Well I hope you guys like it. I'll try to update sooner. For now... Peace Out**


	12. Chapter 12

**So you all are probably pissed at me because I haven't updated in so long. Well things have just been hectic lately with finals and stuff and I've been out of town and haven't taken my laptop with me. Plus I just haven't had time to write with a major writers block destroying it. But I finally came through it and wrote. Sorry if it's not as good as the others but it helped getting over the block**

**Here it is! Chapter 12! I DO NOT OWN VAMPIRE ACADEMY! Enjoy!**

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Rose POV

Dimitri, Paige, and I were sitting in the gym getting to know Paige more as we were not in her life while she was growing up. During our discussion, Harold, Lissa's son, walked in with a determined look on his face. Something must be wrong.

"Uncle Dimitri, may I talk to you for a moment?" he asked.

"Yeah, sure. What is it?" Dimitri asked.

"Uh... Can we talk in private?"

"Okay. If you wish."

Dimitri kissed me softly on the lips and hugged Paige before walking out leaving me and Paige alone for some mother-daughter time.

"Rose, can I ask you something?" Paige asked.

"Call me mom, and yes. What is it?"

"Why is everyone so tense around here? They weren't at my old school. Well, I mean they were, but not like this. This is extreme tenseness."

I knew this question would come up eventually. I just didn't think she would ask so soon. I guess now is better.

"Dimitri's daugther, Claire, who is your half sister was captured by Strigoi. This wasn't just any Strigoi. This is Dimitri's wife. She was turned and captured her daughter so they could be a happy Strigoi family I guess. Tasha captured Lissa's daugther, Marie, as well. So things have been pretty crazy because we need to get the girls back but can't let Tasha know that we know."

"Why aren't you out there trying to find them?"

"We are. We just have to come up with a plan to get them back safely though."

"I want to help," she said.

"What? No. Paige. I can't lose you. Not now after I have just gotten you back.

"Mom! You gave me up. Remember? YOu can't lose me. And I'm almost eighteen. I want to help."

I took a deep breath. "We'll talk to your father and see what he says."

She groaned. "Mom, why are you being so stubborn about this?"

I froze. I couldn't talk about this. I can't tell her about Spokane yet. It still hurts to think about what happened and that my best friend, Mason, was killed because of me. Yes, people have told me over and over again that it wasn't my fault and it was his choice to go back into the house. Plus, the attack still had something to do with this and I didn't want to talk about that either. But still, I can't bear to think about either of those events right now.

"We'll talk about it later, with your father."

Paige rolled her eyes. She may act like a sweet child, but there's still an attitude there that comes from me. Well, at least she has control.

"Mom." She looked at me straight in the eyes. "Why did dad leave you? If he hadn't left then we could have been a family my whole life."

Tears started to gather in the corners of my eyes.

"Honey, I don't even know. He never told me. He said that he wanted to leave for me and protect me but I knew that wasn't the real reason. He was never good at lying to me about things like that. I don't know why he really left me."

Paige reached over and hugged me.

"I understand why you gave me up now. I may not agree with your thinking, but I understand why you did it. I look too much like him and I would have just reminded you of him and you would have been miserable everyday and sent me to be raised in an academy just like your mother did to you. But you could have visited or called or even written letters." I just stared at her shocked. How did she know about my mom?

"How did you know I grew up here?"

"Mom, your famous. Almost all the guardians know you and talk about you. I didn't know you were my mom at the time but I'm glad I know more about you. They said that you were an amazing guardian and that even though you had a really bad attitude when you were younger, you still had promise and now are the best guardian out there. Mom, that's so cool. You have no idea."

"Thanks, Paige. But I really don't think I'm all that cool. I gave you up. How cool could I really be?"

"Mom, it's okay. But look, I'm going to go get some dinner because I'm starving and I would kind of like to make some friends before I go to school."

"Okay, sweetie," I said.

Paige stood up and headed for the door. She started to push open the door when she turned back to face me with a smile on her face.

"I love you, Mom."

"I love you too, Paige."

With that she left and I knew she and I would get along. At least she didn't hate me like I hated my mom when I was younger.

I got up off the gym floor and headed back to my room so I could go over the plan in my head I had to get Claire and Marie back.

When I got to my room, I opened the door and slipped my shoes off. Going into the bathroom, I stripped down and turned the water on to start heating up. I stepped in and let the hot water unknot the muscles in my back, neck, and shoulders. I rinsed my hair with shampoo and conditioner making sure everything clean then turned the water off. I stepped out of the shower wrapping a towel around myself and walked over to the mirror.

I had bags underneath my eyes. I was starting to become just like all the other guardians. Old and worn out. My hands were ripped and beaten up from not wearing my gloves. Luckily I still had my long hair. I couldn't bear to cut it. It was the only thing I still had left to remind me of who I was. I have changed so much. Ever since Dimitri left me, things had started to become horrible.

_Flash back_

_ It had only been a week since Dimitri left and I hadn't come out of my room. Lissa had been by to visit but she knew that I couldn't be helped. I was in such bad shape that I quit eating. Alberta had to come by with food and watch me eat it just so I wouldn't die of starvation. She would try to talk to me, but I just stared at the wall. I didn't want to see or talk to anyone. I just wanted to die or make the pain go away._

_ By the end of the second week, it had only gotten worse. But I was also throwing up every morning which wasn't normal because dhampirs rarely get sick. I was in the shower when I had found my razor blade. I just stared at it for a couple seconds, then bent down to pick it up, raising my arms next to it. Lissa used to do this and it made her feel better. Maybe it would help me._

_ I slit each wrist letting the blood go down the drain with the water as I cried. I cried harder than ever. The pain was slowly starting to go away but it was still there. So I made another cut and the pain was seeping away quicker._

_ I heard the door to my room open and shut then Alberta and Lissa's voices both asked me where I was. I was starting to sway in the shower so I sat down just letting the water run down on me as my blood went with it. I made one more cut so I had two on each wrist and I was starting to lose consciousness._

_ I heard the bathroom door open with Lissa asking if I was okay. I didn't respond. I just stared at the ceiling. Just then, the shower curtain opened and Lissa's eyes go wide when I look at her. Lissa started shreiking at the sight and called for Alberta. Alberta came in and quickly picked me up as Lissa wrapped a towel around my body and wrists._

_ Not caring that I was only in a towel, Alberta ran out of my room and down towards the clinic with me in her arms, Lissa slowly trailing behind us. I thought I could hear Alberta saying that I couldn't go to sleep yet and that I had to stay awake. But I was taken over by blackness before we made it to the clinic._

_ When I woke up, there was a bright light up above. I was in the clinic. I could hear voices in the room. Lissa and Alberta._

_ "Rose." I looked over to see Lissa next to me. "Rose, you can't do this. You can't keep trying to kill yourself. We need you here with us. I need you. Your my only family left. Well, besides Christian. But your my best friend and sister. Please. Let me help you."_

_ "He's gone Lissa. He's gone."_

_ "He'll come back. There's no way that he can resist you."_

_ "No he won't. He left to be with Tasha. She can give him a family. I can't."_

_ "Well, see Rose, here's the thing, you can. You are."_

_ I just stared at her. "What?"_

_ "Rose, You're pregnant. With Dimitri's child."_

_ "No. I don't want to. I don't want anything that reminds me of him. Just please. No. I can't." I started to cry even harder._

_ Lissa wrapped her arms around me. "Shh, shh. It's going to be okay. Everything will be okay. I'm here for you. So is Alberta. It's going to be okay."_

_End Flashback_

I just stared at my wrists thinking about that. Tears started to pierce the corners of my eyes. The scars are still there and remind me everyday of what I had done. I shouldn't have done it. It was a painful reminder of the dark place I was in after he left. When Adrian was alive, he would take my wrists in his hands and stroke the scars. It always pained me that he had to see it. The horrible part of my past. But he said that these scars are reminders to me that I shouldn't go looking for an escape every time I get the chance. Especially when something dangerous is at stake.

I wish Adrian was alive. He would help me through all of this. His last few days of life were the most wonderful days of my life. He was his normal self, despite the fact that he was sick. He would laugh and joke just like he always would when we first met. He took me back to the ski lodge, despite my protests because of the memories of Mason and Dimitri. But he said that it was something that needed to be done. He took me to the spot and pretended to meet for the first time again. But this time, I didn't walk away. I stayed. I wish Adrian was still alive. I miss him so much.

I walked out of the bathroom crying and started digging through my drawers looking for some clothes to wear. I found an old pair of sweats, tight t-shirt and hoodie to throw on. Once I was dressed, there was a knock at the door. I went to go open it to find Dimitri on the other side.

"Hey. What are you doing here?"

"I came to check on you. Have you been crying?"

I wiped my eyes knowing I couldn't lie to him. He would see straight through me. "Yeah. I have."

Dimitri wrapped his arms around me and I buried my face into his chest.

"Rose you can't come with us when we go to save Claire and Marie."

I froze.

"What?"

"Rose, I'm sorry. That's just the way it has to be. You can't come with us. It's too dangerous."

"Dimitri, that's bull shit. There's a reason you are not telling me. I'm the best guardian there is. Well, besides you. I'm the best female guardian. There's no way you're going to leave me behind. I'm not letting you leave me behind."

He sighed. "Rose, I know you're the best. I trained you myself. But the thing is, there's a reason that you can't go, yes. But the reason is just to keep you safe. I'm not supposed to tell you this but the reason you can't come is because Tasha wants to kill you. And Victor Dashkov is with her. He wants you dead as well so he can get to Lissa. Rose. I'm not going to lose you. Connor is not going to lose you. Paige doesn't want to lose you. I can't lose go through thinking you could be dead again. Spokane was the first time."

"Don't you dare bring that up."

"Okay."

I was crying.

"Okay, I'll stay behind. But I want an ear piece just incase you need my help along with some others."

"That we can do."

"Oh, and your daughter wants to help too."

"No."

"You can tell her that yourself."

He sighed.

"That should go over well..."

I just laughed.

"I know."

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**So there you have it. I know this was kinda worse than the rest of the chapters, but you'll live and I'll continue with the story!**

**Reviews would also be nice. If you have any suggestions... those would be taken for ideas.**


	13. Chapter 13

**So here's chapter 13. And thanks for the reviews. They really help when I need a helping hand for when I get stuck. :]**

**So this might be my last chapter for a little bit. I have exams all next week and I need to prepare badly. After that, I'll finish the story. I promise. It's gonna be a long story I'm hoping. All kinds of twists and turns. **

**As for my other story Letters From Hell... I have a lot that I have written that needs to be added to that but unfortunately I can't seem to find a way to connect the stuff that's posted and the stuff I've written yet. I promise that will be fixed soon.**

**I'm going to start writing another story too. I finished reading Spirit Bound and I want to take my own twist on all of it so I might try to write it even though there are so many just like it already. I'll make sure to put a spin onto it.**

**Chapter 13. Enjoy!**

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**Dimitri's POV**

I was holding Rose in my arms. This felt so good after so long of not having her. Of course she never told me what it was she was so upset about. I needed to ask her.

"Rose, what is it you were so upset about?"

She didn't answer me. She just tried to pull away and looked down to the floor.

I grabbed her wrists before she could get any farther. When I got ahold of her wrists, I felt two marks on the inside. Rose flinched. I didn't know why so I brought her wrist up so I could see what those marks were.

I was expecting a battle wound or something along those lines. What I didn't expect was to see two perfectly straight scars, side by side, in the middle of her wrist. She couldn't have. There was no way Rose could have cut herself. After what she saw with Lissa, she should have known better.

Rose tried to rip her hand out of my but I just gripped even tighter and grabbed the other wrist too. The same marks were on this wrist too. I kept looking back and forth between the marks on her wrists, and her face. Her face was full of pain and misery and regret. She must not like the fact she did this.

"Why did you do it? You saw what happened to Lissa when she cut herself. Why would you do it?"

She looked up at me to stare into my eyes, never faltering as she spoke her next words.

"I thought it would ease the pain. The blood wasn't coming out fast enough and the pain was horrible. I thought it would be an escape. I only did it once."

"Why didn't you call me after you did this?"

"Because it was only two weeks after you left. You didn't need to be bothered with me and the horrible mistake I made."

"You should have still called."

"No, Dimitri. I didn't have to. You left me. I was in pain. My heart broke, smashed, all because you left. So I thought there would be an escape in doing this. I didn't need you to come running back to me just because I was in trouble. You should have come back because you loved me. Not because of my emotional pain and the pain I cause myself."

The words she spoke were true. She didn't have to call me. I should have come back.

I looked back down to her wrists and started to stroke the scars. I still couldn't believe that I was the one who caused her to do this. She must have really been in pain if she thought this was her only escape. I shouldn't have left in the first place.

"Rose, I'm sorry. I'm the one who caused you to do this."

She sighed. "It's okay. They aren't so bad anymore to look at. They're the reminders that I need to go on with my life and that I can't sit around waiting for someone that will never come back. Plus, I learned that doing something like this could have it's major consequences."

I smiled. "Okay. I'm just glad you know how much that could have destroyed you."

"I know. Now you need to go face our daughter and tell her she isn't going to be helping."

I groaned. "I don't want to have this conversation with her. She's going to fight me. I can feel it."

"Don't worry about it. If she's gonna be a pain about it, send her to me. I'll straighten her out," she laughed.

"Oh, Roza. Despite the fact that your grown and mature, you still have that badass side to you."

"Yeah, but it's one of the things you like best."

"True."

"Now go face your daughter."

I laughed. "Okay, okay. I'm going."

I gave Rose a sweet kiss. "I love you, Rosemarie."

"I love you too Dimitri."

It's not that I didn't want Paige to help or anything, I just thought that maybe since I didn't want to lose the two girls I love so much who entered my life today. It may seem stupid but I just couldn't risk it. Not yet. Plus, I'm not sure how Paige fights yet. I mean, it was one thing to see the hurt look on Rose's face when I told her she couldn't come. I know how she fights. Most likely she'll just find some way to follow along anyways. But Paige was different. She was my daughter. She is only eighteen. I have to tell her no.

I left Rose's room to meet up with Alberta, Eddie, Connor, and six other guardians who's names I haven't learned yet. We were going to go over how to get the girls back safely from Tasha and Victor. Somehow Victor hadn't been turned yet. But I had the feeling that he was going to use Marie to turn since Tasha wanted Claire to be a Strigoi as well as me. But I was not going to let that happen.

We met in one of the guardian conference rooms that had once where Rose had been accused of letting the "Strigoi" during her trials take Christian, when really, she had seen a ghost and froze. This room held so many memories that I didn't know if I was going to be able to handle. Everyone sat down in the chairs around the table waiting for me to start.

"Alright. Where do we begin?" I asked.

"I think we should go over where they are first. Do you have any leads as to where they might be?" Alberta asked next.

"Yes, as a matter of fact, I do. Harold was able to contact Marie somehow through a bond they share. They had never told anyone about it until Harold had come to me. Marie and Claire are being held in a cabin just outside the wards. They are being held by Tasha Ozera and Victor Dashkov."

Eddie froze and Alberta gasped. Connor had a look saying that he was going to murder Dashkov. I guess Rose told him about what happened to her and Lissa when they were younger and what Dashkov did.

"That can't be. Victor was locked away in a cell for the rest of his life. How did he escape?" One of the other guardians asked. I think his name is Guardian Sterling.

"Well I guess he did because that is the info Harold gave me."

Alberta seemed to finally think of something to say. "Is it the same cabin Rose told me about?"

I froze. There was no way Rose could have told her about that. But I'll deal with that later.

"Yes. It is. Now all we need to do is-"

My words were cut off when the doors slammed open, revealing Paige and she looked incredibly pissed off. Damn it. I forgot to talk to her. She is not going to be happy.

"Dad. What the hell. Why didn't you tell me the meeting to get my sister back was going on. Huh?"

"Paige, you're not coming with us."

"Yes I am. That Tasha bitch wants to kill Mom. There's no way I'm letting her get away with this."

"No. You're not coming. End of story."

Paige threw up her hands.

"Dad, why can't you see that I can help you. Tasha doesn't know who I am and I could be a good distraction. What don't you get? I could be a great help."

"You know Dimitri, she does have a point," said Eddie.

I could not believe this. I could not believe that Eddie, of all people, would be sticking up for Paige. I mean yeah, sure. It was a nice thing for him to do. But I couldn't deal with it. Not at all. But I guess I had no argument here. I had no choice.

"Fine, Paige. You can tag along. But I don't want you as a distraction. I want you right by my side. Your mother would never forgive me if she knew I let you go out there on your own."

"Thank you! Thank you! I promise that I won't disappoint you!"

"Yeah..." I mumbled to myself.

What the heck have I gotten us into?

**Tasha POV**

I knew that I was never going to get Dimitri to come willingly. He would have gone back to that blood whore as soon as he had the chance. He would have taken my precious daughter with him too. There was no way I was going to let him take her to see that horrible girl. I won't allow it.

Dimitri and Claire will be awakened. There's no going back.

I can't tell Victor my plan because it's almost like pressing the "forward all" button on a cell phone. Once you tell him what you're planning, your basically telling everyone in the entire world. There's no way of getting people to trust you, even when your an evil living creature such as myself. Not that people would trust me anyways, but still. Everyone thinks that being Strigoi is so horrible. Well they have no idea. Being Strigoi is amazing. The speed, the attack, the newly developed senses, it's fantastic.

I bet that Dimitri has put a plan into motion already. I wouldn't doubt it. He would do that even when we were married. He always put others before himself and would lead the attack if he had to. He was known for that.

If he even comes near this cabin, he is waiting for a suprise. I hope his dear Rosemarie comes with him too. If she does, she's dead.

**Paige POV**

There are may reasons I want to go on this hunt for the missing girls. One of them being that one of them is my sister and I need to protect her.

Another reason being, Tasha thinks I'm on her side. Well boy is she wrong. I want to help my Mom and Dad save the girls. Tasha has no idea what's coming for her. I'm going to kill that bitch and her little accomplice, Victor. This is all his fault. If he hadn't been so keen on getting revenge on Lissa and Mom, he wouldn't have even joined and given Tasha the idea of killing Rose.

Tasha thinks that I want to become Strigoi. She thinks that I want to be with her and my dad and Claire forever. Truth is, I want her to die. And she's going to die.

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**Ooohhh... What's gonna happen next?**

**Will the girls be saved? Will Paige really act like she's going to be a Strigoi awakened by Tasha? You'll have to wait and find out until next time. :D**

**Reviews are always nice too.**

**Love, HappyGilmore27**


	14. Chapter 14

**So I know I haven't updated in a long time and you all are probably like, okay well I don't want to read this anymore because the writer is taking wayyyyy too long. Well I'm really sorry that I'm just now updating this and I hope you all like it. I made it longer just so you would have more to read. Usually the short ones are boring. Well this won't be boring!**

**Here's chapter 14!

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_**Rose POV**_

Dimitri had left my room and I had told him about my scars. I can't believe I told him. That was the one thing he should never have found out. But I guess he blames himself and he should. Just because I took him back doesn't mean he doesn't deserve for me to be a bitch to him at times. He left me for 17 god damned years! That's a long time in my book.

I made my way and looked down to find a bunch of paperwork that I still hadn't finished. It was all of Claire's and Dimitri's files, along with Paige's and a couple of the new guardians we hired to come help rescue Marie and Claire. Their names are Jonathan Archer and Garrett Swaim.

I was sitting at the desk in my room trying to finish up some paperwork that I have been trying to finish for a long time when a shooting pain slashed across my lower stomach. Almost as if my insides were exploding and I was going to die. The pain was so horrible, I started to scream.

"Lissa! Christian!" I cried out. "Come now!"

I couldn't say anymore. The pain was starting to take over so horribly. I didn't know if I was going to be able to recover from this one.

Lissa and Christian came running into the room frantically.

"Rose, honey! What's wrong?" Christian asked.

"It hurts!"

"What hurts?"

"My lower abdomen! It feels like something exploded just-"

My words were cut off by a shooting pain that caused me to scream again, only louder and more high pitched.

"Shhhh, Rose. Shh. It's going to be okay," Lissa soothed me as she brushed my hair away from my face.

I couldn't hear anymore, my breathing had become harder and I couldn't take it. I wasn't aware that Christian was on the phone with Dr. Olendski at the time, I was screaming so loud. Lissa would brush the hair out of my face and try to calm me down as Christian gave my dorm number to the doctor. I could tell they were trying to stay calm because this was scaring them. This was scaring me.

Christian put his cell phone away and tried to soothe me by singing a lullaby, but that only quieted me a little bit. My stomach was having such sharp pains that I couldn't even concentrate on the song. Endless tears were streaming out of my eyes as the pain seemed to worsen.

Suddenly, I could hear other guardians approach the room as the pain continued to kill me. I was barely aware of the guardians loading me onto a stretcher and placing a gas mask over my face as they lifted me off the bed and out the door into the hallway. There was shouting still going but I was barely aware of them. Christian and Lissa never left my side. The doctor placed an IV in my arm and drowsiness started to take over.

The doctor tried to feel around my lower stomach to get a feel of what was wrong but I could no longer stay awake as I slowly slipped into unconsciousness.

I woke up in the clinic. I had a breathing tube underneath my nose with several needles and wires poking into me, and a heart monitor hooked up to my finger. So I wasn't dead, but I really would like to know what happened. I felt really sore.

I looked around the room to see I was the only one in it. Not even my friends were in here. The room was just plain white. There was a couch to my right with a smaller chair right next to it. A tray of food sat next to me, but just looking at it made me want to throw up. I leaned back in the bed to figure out I was in one of those horrible hospital gowns that show your ass in the back. Great. Just great.

Then the doctor walked in.

"Hello Rose. How are you feeling?"

"Like shit."

"Well I don't blame you. Do you wanna know what happened now? Or would you like to wait and find out when Lord Ozera and Princess Dragomir return?" Oh. So they were just out for a minute.

"Now, please."

"Okay. Well, the pain you were experiencing was caused by your fallopian tube. Unfortunately, it increased to a size that should never be achieved and it exploded. Luckily we were able to get to you on time because any more time and it could have killed you. You're a very lucky girl. But because of the tube, we had to remove both tubes because the other one would have exploded any day. Your ovaries and the tubes no longer exist in your body. I'm sorry to say this, but if you want to have anymore kids, you have to adopt. You can no longer have kids."

I froze. No. There was no way I couldn't more have kids. I didn't want to adopt. I wanted more kids of my own. I started to cry.

"I know this comes to you as a shock, but you would have died if we hadn't removed the tubes. You're going to be okay."

I looked at the doctor. She was really trying to be nice about this because clearly he was sorry about it too. She did save my life.

"Thank you," I told him. "Thank you for saving my life."

"I'm just glad you're okay. If you don't mind, I would like to keep you here for a couple more days just to make sure you're going to be okay."

"Okay. Did someone contact my mother and father?"

"Yes. I already talked about it with them."

I nodded my head and the doctor walked out of the room. My mom would have wanted to know because we had become much closer over the years. I had told her everything about Dimitri and I and I even told her about Paige. She was with me every step of the way and I really appreciate her for that. But then she introduced me to my father about seven years ago. His name is Abe Mazur. He's almost like a scary mobster Moroi. No one would want to mess with him.

I just realized that no one had contacted Dimitri. I really needed to call him and let him know what happened. He will probably start to freak out and come running over here the minute I say the words, "I'm in the clinic" but that's okay because I really need him with me here right now. Being cooped up in here sucks.

I searched for my phone and looked at the bedside table. There it was. I dialed Dimitri's number. He picked up on the first ring.

"Belikov."

"Dimitri, it's me."

"Rose, where are you? I've been trying to reach you for hours! You haven't been answering my calls. Why haven't you called me?"

Shit. How long have I been unconscious Crap. No wonder he has so many questions.

"Dimitri, calm down. I'm in the clinic. I've been unconscious. I thought Lissa and Christian told you. Look, I really need you to come over here."

"I'm on my way now. Please, tell me you're okay?"

"I am."

"Okay, I'll see you in a few." With that the line went dead.

Well great. now I have to plan out what I'm going to say to him. It's not everyday you get to say to your boyfriend, "hey guess what. I no longer have my tubes so I can't get pregnant! There's no need for condoms anymore..." Yeah. That will go over well.

I laid back against the pillows and closed my eyes for a little while. I heard the door open and opened my eyes to see Lissa, Christian, and Dimitri all standing in the doorway. Eddie came up behind them slowly with a worried expression.

Lissa breathed a sigh of relief, walked over and took my hand. "Rose, I would hug you, but you look like you're in a lot of pain right now."

I smiled. "I am."

"Rose, don't scare us like that again!" Lissa shouted.

"Liss, It's not like I can go controlling what the inside of my body does."

"Sorry. I was just so scared you were gonna die. You were screaming bloody murder and it frightened me. I felt so helpless. I tried to heal you but it didn't work." She looked to be about on the verge of tears. I needed to reassure her.

"Liss, I'm not going anywhere. Don't worry about me. I'm supposed to worry about you."

Lissa glared at me. "No. No, you don't get to say that anymore. I'm sick and tired of hearing you say that." Oh man. She's pissed. "You're the one that's in a hospital bed right now. You're the one who was screaming because of a horrible pain. I had to worry about you. There was no way I couldn't. Rose, you're like my sister. You can't just go around thinking that I won't care about you."

I just stared at her. She really did mean what she said.

"Okay, thanks Liss."

She smiled. "You're welcome, Rose."

Just then, Dimitri walked closer to me and grabbed my other hand that Lissa wasn't holding. I looked up at him and smiled.

"Hey comrade."

"Rose, I'm so glad you're okay."

"There's no way anyone can get rid of me. I'm just too damn important."

He laughed and it felt so good to hear him laugh.

"Rose, what happened? Has the doctor told you yet?"

I looked straight ahead. I couldn't say this and look at his beautiful face at the same time. It was too much to bear. By then Christian had joined us standing next to Lissa and wrapping an arm around her protectively. I took a deep breath. It was now or never.

"My fallopian tube exploded." I heard Lissa gasp. Dimitri gripped my hand tighter. "The doctor said it increased to a size that was abnormal. They got to me on time so they could save me but it did have a set back." I took another breath to steady my shaky voice. "They had to remove my tubes and ovaries because both tubes were set to grow to abnormal sizes. I can't have anymore kids of my own. I have to adopt."

Tears were falling out of my eyes. I couldn't deal with the news still. I couldn't wrap my mind around it. It was just too much for me to bear.

"Oh, Rose. I'm so sorry." Lissa said.

I sniffled. "It's okay Liss. I had Paige and Connor. They're great kids. I just wish that maybe I could have had another one. Oh well. If I really do I can adopt."

"Rose, are you gonna be okay?" Christian asked.

"Yeah, Sparky. I'll be fine."

"Rose, I'm so sorry but I really need to go. I have a meeting with all the teachers that I have to attend. Dimitri, I'm ordering you to stay here with Rose. She is not to get out of this bed. She needs her rest," Lissa ordered.

"I would but I really need to rescue my daughter and yours. They come first." Lissa gave him a stern look that said you-better-stay-here-with-Rose-because-she-comes-first-right-now. Dimitri must have caught on because then he said next, "don't worry Lissa. She's safe with me," he smiled.

Lissa gave me one last hug and kissed my forehead before walking out the door. Christian squeezed my hand and followed close behind her shutting the door on his way out. Dimitri grabbed one of the chairs and brought it over next to my bed and grabbed my hand, his thumbs creating soothing circles.

"I should have been with you the whole time. I should never have left. You should have told me you were in pain."

"No, Dimitri. You had to. It's not like you had a choice. Besides. It was so sudden that I didn't even have time to react to it. It was just bing, bang, boom. Now I'm here and you're with me."

"Rose, no. I love you so much and to see you in here just brings back horrible memories. Like from when you fell off the bench or after Natalie had almost killed you," I flinched, "or after Spokane when Mason died-" I cut him off.

"Don't bring Mason up. I still blame myself for letting him get killed."

Dimitri gave me a look that said he was sorry.

"I should have been there so I wouldn't have thought you were just ignoring me. I should have been able to protect you," he said.

He was looking at me with such passion that I almost lost my train of thought about what we were talking about.

"You wouldn't have been able to do anything. It was my tube _inside _of my body. No one could have controlled that."

He sighed. "I know. But still, I wish I had been there."

"You being here now makes up for it. Besides. You had a duty that you had to do. You need to find the girls."

He looked down. "I know. I just... I can't go out here knowing that you're in here."

I rolled my eyes. "Dimitri, for heaven's sake! I'm not going to die! I have Lissa here with me and the security of the Academy. The doctor is taking good care of me. You need to find Claire, your daughter. She comes first. Along with Marie."

"Rose. I know she's my daughter. But I can't go away thinking that if I go away that you might not let me come back to you if I go. She may be my daughter, but I left you and I will never forgive myself for that."

"Dimitri, I will be fine. Besides. My mother is coming to stay with me the next couple of weeks. So is my dad. I'll be fine."

He smiled. "Yeah. I guess you will be with the great Jeanine Hathaway to take care of you."

I laughed. "I know."

Just then, the door slammed open and in walks Paige and Connor. They are looking at me with sad eyes but then lighten up as soon as they saw I was awake.

"Oh, mom. I'm so sorry," Connor says.

"Shh, it's okay. I'm going to be just fine. Don't you worry about me."

"Mom, you're not gonna die are you?" Paige asked.

"No. Of course not sweetie."

Both of them smiled.

"Good," they said in unison. That made me smile.

"Connor," I said, "Will you do me a favor?"

"Yes. Of course. What do you need?"

"I need you to go get Harold for me. Don't ask why. Just please do it. For me. Paige, you go with him."

"Okay, Mom."

Connor walked over and kissed my cheek and Paige hugged me. Together they went off in the search for Harold.

"Rose, I forgot to ask you," Dimitri said. "How are you doing with the side effects of Spirit? The darkness?"

I looked at Dimitri. He had complete worry on his face. Might as well tell him.

"It comes and goes every now and then. Lissa tried to use it as little as possible now. But when Adrian was alive she would use it more. He was the one who had helped me get through it. He would always say, it's gonna be okay. You're Rose Hathaway. This isn't you. But now that he's gone, Lissa uses it rarely. She doesn't like to watch the effects. Plus she doesn't really have time to use it anymore. She uses small amounts of spirit to heal her kids or Connor."

"I'm really sorry about Adrian. Truly, I am."

I stared at his gorgeous face. He was being truthful and that made me happy.

"Thank you. That means a lot."

He leaned forward and planted a kiss onto my lips when Harold walked in.

"You wanted to see me?"

**Connor POV**

I was walking with Paige to find Harold. I thought she was the hottest thing in the world with her long brown hair and chocolate eyes. That was until I found out she was my half-sister. It's weird to think that my mom had a baby with Dimitri and never told anyone about it except for Aunt Lissa, Grandma and Grandpa. But I guess she had to.

"Hey, Connor," Paige said.

"Yeah."

"Can you tell me about mom?"

I turned to face her.

"Don't you already know a lot about her? She is kinda famous in the guardian world."

She turned her face towards the ground. "I know. But I want to know about other things. I don't want to know about the Strigoi she killed when she was our age. I don't want to know about the attack on the academy. I don't want to know about her glory and all the horrible things she killed out there that had glowing red eyes. I want to know what she's like and what made her kill the ugly things. I want to know why she won't tell me herself."

"Paige, I don't know if I can tell you that. She doesn't like to talk about it with me. I mean, yeah she's told me everything but she would only talk about it with my dad really. I think you should ask her to tell you."

She sighed. "I don't know if I can"

"You can and you know it."

Paige smiled. "Yeah. I guess."

Paige looked up to the sky and saw all the bright stars out.

"Connor, if I told you something would you not tell mom? But told Dimitri? I know he doesn't want mom out there so I don't want her to know this piece of information."

"Yeah. Sure of course. What is it?"

"I know who's behind it. I know everything. Why they're doing all of this and how I know all of this information."

What!

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**So I hope you guys enjoyed that chapter. I'm going on vacation for a few days so I'll TRY to get some more chapters posted before I leave. I hope I can.**

**Reviews are always good. I like all kinds of reviews. Good, Bad, they're awesome!**

**Hope you liked it!**


	15. Chapter 15

I know! It's been so long since I've updated! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! But here you go! Chapter 15!

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**Connor POV**

"What do you mean that you know who's behind it?" I screamed.

"Sh! Keep it down would you? I can't have the guardians knowing that I know everything. I want to keep Mom safe but I need to do it my way. And you need to agree with me on this. I don't want anything to happen to her. Not now. Not after I just found her," she told me. She seemed on the verge of crying.

"I'm sorry. I just..." I didn't know what to say next.

"I know what you're thinking. That maybe I should tell the guardians. But really, if I tell them what I know, they would think that I'm against them and with the bad guys. I really can't have that happening!"

I just stared at her. Then something occurred to me.

"You could always tell me."

She looked at me shocked. Clearly she hadn't thought of that earlier. I'm going to find out what she means. She will tell me what's going on.

"Connor, if I tell you, you have to promise me you won't go telling Mom or Dad. I can't have them finding out just yet." She was begging by now and I was kind of amused. I had never had a brother or sister until now. This is kind of fun.

"Well why can't you tell Dimitri? I mean he is your dad and he really wants to keep Mom safe. He needs this information."

"I can't tell him. Not yet! If I do then we'll all be dead."

That stopped me. The pure serious look she had on her face was starting to freak me out. She was being totally truthful and I had no other reason to go to Dimitri. Clearly I won't tell Mom, but maybe, just maybe I could get around the rule and tell him...

No. I won't tell him. I have to promise I won't.

"I promise I won't tell him," I told her. "You can trust me with this information."

"Are you sure? You promise not to tell anyone? Especially my dad?"

"I promise."

She took a deep breath and started to tell me all about what Tasha is doing and planning and what could happen if she told.

"I was about twelve when I met Tasha. She was my instructor for marshal arts when I was younger. I liked to take extra classes outside of the academy. She was always like a mother to me. The mother I never had. I don't know why she just didn't adopt me. I never met Claire or my dad. I would have had no idea that we were even related had I not known that Dad left Mom when she was eighteen. When I was fourteen, she was taken by Strigoi and turned. So I started to teach the classes for the younger kids at her school. But I only lasted for six months until I got into more trouble and had to be sent away to another family who would abuse me." She paused to breathe for a second, trying to get the words to form a sentence for what she was about to tell me next.

"When Tasha had been turned, I didn't even think that she would come and seek me out. I had no idea that she would ever even come close to me since she would be stronger than me. But when she did, she kidnapped me. She took me away to where she and her army were hiding. There were six other Strigoi in the room at the time. I never learned their names. But in walked three more behind Tasha. So there's Lord Ozera's parents, Tasha, and most importantly, Victor Dashkov. He had a grudge against Mom and Aunt Lissa for years for sending him to prison. That was when they wanted to turn me. But decided not to because I could go undercover for them. The told me that if I did this for them then they wouldn't hurt me. And they didn't. I went undercover for them as their spy. I looked up Mom's records, where she was staying and everything. I gave all her information to Tasha. It took me two years to undercover everything. I didn't know that she was my Mom though. I still had no idea who my Mom was at the time.

"So finally, after three years of being a spy for Tasha, they sent me here, to the academy, to hunt down Mom to give her to them. At first I didn't want to do it. But they used the 'I will kill you if you don't' threat and I agreed to coming here.

"One night, I was walking around the house that Tasha was staying in and I heard her talking to Victor and Lord Ozera's parents. They were planning Mom's death so that she could get to Dimitri and Claire. She wants to turn them so she can spend eternity with them. The one thing that caught my ears was when they started talking about how they were going to take turns ripping Mom's throat out and how they would drain all the blood from her body by all drinking from her at once." Paige was shaking hard by now and I had to put my arms around her to stop her shaking. "They were saying that I was the one who was going to get her knocked out and outside the wards so they could take her away. I never wanted to do any of it. I had no choice.

"When I came here, and I saw Mom for the first time, I could see the similarities in us. But I had no idea she was my mother. There was no way I could have known at the time until I met my Dad. Then when they told me they were my parents, everything clicked together. Now, I don't know how to get out of it. I don't know what to do. I don't want to follow through with this plan. I don't want anything to do with Tasha and her plans. I never wanted to be a part of it."

Paige was sobbing by now and it broke my heart to see her cry. I pulled her closer to me, as a brother would do to his sister.

I just let her cry until she started to hiccup and she finally sat up looking ashamed. She really had no interest in hurting Mom. She wanted to save her.

"Paige, why didn't you tell someone sooner?"

"Because Victor and Tasha kept threatening me. There were a couple times where I was being 'unreasonable' and they bit me." She moved her hair away from her neck showing off the scars of where they had bitten her. I froze.

"Why would they do that to you? Are you sure you don't want to tell anyone?"

She looked at the floor. "Like I said. I wasn't agreeing with their plans. So they did horrible things to me. I had no choice. And I can't tell anyone. I tell anyone and I get bitten. I really can't. But I would like to so much. I shouldn't have even told you. But you're my brother and I had to. It's just a sibling thing."

I rubbed soothing circles on her back while she put herself together.

"I'm so sorry they did that to you. If we had met sooner I would never have let anything like that happen to you."

She smiled. "You're here now. That's all that matters. I'm shocked that we're actually getting along. All the families I lived with, none of the kids got along. They fought all the time."

I laughed. "I think it's because we just met and we have no dirt on each other yet to make us fight. Plus I didn't have any siblings. I had Marie and Harold but still. They aren't actually my family. We just consider we're family because Mom and aunt Lissa are best friends, sisters almost. I guess when they were in high school, before Mom went through the whole thing with Dimitri and the darkness she has to deal with, they were practically joined at the hip."

"You know, I've always wanted a family that I could always rely on. A family that is always there for me. I've always wanted a Mom who would love me and a Dad who would always kiss Mom every time they see each other. I wanted a perfect family. I don't want to guard a Moroi. I just want a normal life where I don't get bitten if I don't do as told."

"It's gonna be okay. I think that now Mom has found you and that you're back, she'll never let you go. Now that I think about it, she used to say stuff like that at night. She would never have given you up if it wasn't for Dimitri. She feels horrible about it."

"I don't really blame her. She had to do what she thought was right. But I really just want to go to my room now. I'm really tired and just want to sleep. We have a big day ahead of us if we want Claire and Marie back."

I sighed. "Yeah. I know."

**Rose POV**

Laying in a hospital bed in the clinic for the millionth time in your life sucks. I am so bored right now, I started to count the number of squares on the ceiling. Dimitri was in and out most of the night. He wanted to stay but I wouldn't let him. He needed to go find Claire and Marie and he couldn't do that if he was sitting here with me. Besides, the sooner he gets them back, the sooner he can come back to me.

I was almost finished counting the squares when there was a knock at the door.

"Come in!" I yelled.

My mom walked in with my dad close on her heals.

"Oh my god, Rose! What happened?" Her face had worry written all over it.

I explained the whole tale of my tubes and the pain over again. When I was finished my mom grabbed my hand and started to stroke the hair out of my face.

"Rose, I'm so sorry. This shouldn't have happened to you. Are you in any pain?"

"No not anymore. There was right when it first happened but now I'm just trying to recover. I'm sore though."

My dad walked over and grabbed my other hand. "I'm so sorry this happened to you, honey."

I smiled. "I'm going to be okay, guys. Dimitri has been taking good care of me along with Lissa and the doctor."

My mom froze. Uh, oh. What did I say now?

"Dimitri is back? Since when? He left you Rose. He left you while you were pregnant with his child. I will have to have a talk with him. Abe would you like to help me?"

"Yes, I would Janine. He needs to be reminded of what kind of person I am when someone messes with my family."

I groaned. "Mom, dad. Really? Is this necessary? He already feels bad enough. And not only that, Tasha took Claire with her, more like kidnapped her. Tasha took Marie with her too. He's having trouble trying to make sure I'm safe while trying to come up with a plan to get the girls back. Please don't make this harder for him. Not until after the girls are back at least."

My parents looked at each other for a while having a silent conversation. They had the same kind of relationship Dimitri and I had. They didn't need words to speak. They could just look in each others' eyes and have a silent conversation.

"Okay, fine," my dad said. "We'll wait until after the girls are back. But we will have to have a talk with him."

I rolled my eyes. "I should have known you would say that."

Mom started to laugh. All of a sudden her face became serious.

"Rose, I am going out there with them. I'm going to help get the girls back. Your father is going to stay behind and help you. But I have to go out there and help. With you out they needed another person. I agreed to go."

I froze. "What? No way. You can't go out there. I love you, Mom. Please don't." I was starting to sound like my son. Pleading with my mother.

"I know you don't want me to go out there. But they need help. Don't worry. I'll come back. I always do." Mom kissed my forehead and started to get up. "I need to go meet with the other guardians to help plan the attack. We will get them back. I will come back. I love you, Rose."

"I love you too, Mom."

With that my mom walked over to give my dad a goodbye kiss and out the door with a glance behind her to see us still sitting there staring at her.

"Don't worry kiz. I'm going to stay with you while you recover in here."

I smiled at my dad. "Thanks Dad. I appreciate it."

"Anytime."

**Dimitri POV**

Planning the attack on Tasha was brutal. I was having trouble concentrating. Rose is in the clinic trying to recover from the explosion of her tubes, Claire has been taken by Tasha, and I have a daughter I never knew about until recently. There was so much I still had to do. But still. Rose is what was stopping me. Tasha wants to kill her, and I have to make sure she stays safe.

There was a knock at my door and I opened it up to find a very angry looking Janine Hathaway standing with her arms crossed across her chest. Shit.

"Belikov, let's have a little chat why don't we?"

I couldn't speak so I just nodded and moved so she could step inside and give me the lecture I knew was coming.

"I don't know how you could leave my daughter like that. Especially when she was pregnant with your child. You should have stayed. She wouldn't have been the horrible mess she was for years if it hadn't happened. I know you have a lot on your plate right now, and the fact that I promised Rose that I would wait, I still can't help but do it anyways because of how your treated her."

I hung my head low. I knew I deserved this.

"I'm sorry. I thought it was for the best."

"For the best? For who? For Rose? For the child that you left? Or are you really that selfish that you would do it for your selfish reasons?"

"I thought I was doing the right thing! I thought that if I was still in the picture, she wouldn't have become the guardian she was meant to be. I would have been holding her back. I never meant to hurt her." I was on the verge of tears.

Janine walked over and put a hand on my shoulder. "I don't think you made the right choice. But I do think that your logic is right. She wouldn't have become the guardian she was going to be if you were still there. But if you had been there, she wouldn't have run off with the baby. You need to think about what you've done. But that's not why I'm here. I need to know the plan to get the girls back."

"I haven't thought of what exactly what we're going to do yet. But we need to be quick, and stealthy. We leave tomorrow. They're not that far from here actually. They're in a cabin just outside the wards. But here's the thing. They want Rose. They want to kill her, and turn me and Claire. Marie, they would just her use as a feeding tool. Trying to get out of this one will be tricky," I told her.

She seemed to be deep in thought until she spoke. "We get a group of guardians and we don't all go in at once. One set will go in, then another, then another. Tasha and the rest of the Strigoi have to be staked no matter what. Even though she was your wife, she still has to be killed. That's just the way it goes. We get the girls out as quick and safely as possible. We travel there in daylight. We only fight if we have to. We just need to get them out."

"I agree with the plan. Okay, so we'll meet right before the sun comes up, go over the plan, and attack."

"Exactly. Now I must go find my granddaughter. I really would like to meet her."

Just before she walked out the door she turned around and said, "if you really want to be in Rose's life again, you're going to have to do a lot of work. She loves you still. As much as I liked Adrian, I can tell she still loves you. Don't walk away from her this time."

"You have nothing to worry about Guardian Hathaway. I wouldn't ever dream of leaving her. Not again."

"I'm going to hold you to that Belikov. Oh, and Dimitri? Call me Janine would you. Now that you and my daughter are involved again and most likely you'll end up married to her, there's no need for the formal titles. Unless we're in public and something has just occurred."

"You got it Janine. And thanks. I really appreciate it. Even though I hurt Rose, I will never to that to her again. I care too much for her. I love her."

"You better, Belikov. Or I will come and hunt you down myself."

I froze. She meant it. I knew she did. I just couldn't ever let Rose go from my sight. With the one exception to save the girls.

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**Okay! So I hoped you like it! Going to post 16 soon! I swear! Please Review!**


	16. Chapter 16

**So I know you all probably want to kill me for not updating in a really long time. But I have just a lot of crap going on with horrible events that have happened in the last couple months with people and I have been an emotional wreck. You guys didn't really want to know that but I felt like I owe all of you an explanation. And then there's the fact that I started school last week so I had been trying to get ready for that too. So I'm sorry for not updating faster. I had this next chapter all written out and then I decided I either hated a bunch of it or I wanted to change it. But I hope you guys like it. Its a lot longer than normal and all in Dimitri's POV. This is what you've all been waiting for. So read and enjoy! Chapter 16

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**Dimitri POV**

I fell asleep in the clinic. Rose was still there and I didn't want her to be alone. Plus there's a chance I may not come back from this mission so I wanted to spend time with her. We stayed up for hours just talking about our lives. She told me about Adrian, how he proposed, when he was diagnosed with his sickness, and when he died. I told her about Claire and what an amazing girl she is. She then talked about Connor and how he was always by her side no matter what. It was a great night. But as all great things are, it had to end.

I woke up on the bed next to Rose with her safely in my arms. She looked so peaceful when she slept. I really wish I didn't have to go on this mission. If I didn't, there wouldn't be a possibility that I could die. I could spend the rest of my life with her. Unfortunately, that's not the case. Claire is my daughter. There was no way that I was going to let her die. And Marie is Lissa's daughter. If Marie died, Lissa would never let me live it down. Not ever in a million years.

I laid with Rose for a little while longer and watched her sleep. Finally, it was time to get up and move. Slowly, I got up from the bed trying not to wake her up. I moved as slowly and quietly as possible. With great luck, she didn't budge. She was sound asleep. I just looked at her and thought about how lucky I was that she even agreed to take me back.

It was time for me to go. So i planted a kiss on her forehead after writing her a letter saying everything I needed to say to her. I left her a special gift that I don't know if she'll respond to. I don't know if I'll ever get to hear the response.

I walked out the door of her room and closed it trying to be quiet. I leaned against the door once shut and tears started to stream down my face. I didn't know if I was going to come back. I love Rose so much.

Walking towards the conference room, I was lost in thought. Thinking about Rose and how much I love her. But there was still so much that got in the way. She still didn't quite forgive me for what I did. I should have never left her. If I hadn't, she would never have cut her wrists, she would never have had to give up Paige. But if I hadn't, she wouldn't have Connor, and I wouldn't have Claire. Even though there was so much bad in the fact that I left her, there was still good that came out of it. And now that we're reunited, we can finally be a happy family.

Maybe.

I got to the conference room and everyone, including Connor, Paige, Eddie, and Christian, was there waiting for me to arrive. The only one missing was Janine. I had no idea where she could be.

"Dimitri,"

Shit. She's behind me.

I turn around to face her.

I nodded my head towards her. "Janine. You ready?"

"No. But I have to be don't I."

"Yes. Don't worry. We'll make it back," I tried to reassure her. But I wasn't so sure myself that was really the case.

"I know. But there's always that chance we won't Belikov and you know that just as well as I do."

I nodded and went and took my place at the head of the table. Everyone knew we were going to risk everything for this mission.

It took a while to get everyone to stop talking. But once they quieted down, I started to speak.

"As you all know, today is the day we go to get the girls back. Now we all know what the plan is correct?" Everyone nodded. "Well we're going to go over it one more time to just make sure we're all on the same page anyways. We take as many guardians as we can. We send in one group at a time. There are three groups. I'm leading a team, Janine is leading a team, and Alberta is leading a team. But we still need a distraction. Who will be the distraction?"

Everybody started to look around. Clearly no one wanted to do this. But we needed someone who could step forward.

Paige raised her hand. "I will."

I looked over to Connor to see if she was being serious and by the look of his face, she was. Eddie's, Christian's, Janine's, and Alberta's jaws were dropped.

"No."

"Yes."

"No, final answer."

"Why, dad? Why not? I am perfectly capable of being a distraction."

I sighed. "I can't lose you too."

Paige sighed in frustration. Clearly she was too much like Rose and wasn't about to give up this fight.

"Dad. I. Will. Be. Fine. Let me be the distraction."

I had no idea why she wanted to do this. But all I know is I found myself saying, "okay," before I knew what was happening.

There were a few shouts and cries saying I shouldn't let a young girl go out there and do this. Janine's voice was the loudest.

"Belikov! What are you doing? You can't let a novice to go out there on her own! Especially when she's my granddaughter and your daughter! Why are you letting her do this?" Janine just kept going on and on and finally I found myself shouting.

"Listen to me!" I shouted. "Paige will be able to handle it. I mean, she is Rose's daughter. She has not only her DNA, but mine as well as you have clearly stated Janine. She is my daughter. In that case, she will be perfectly fine going out there. I wouldn't let her go out if I knew she couldn't do it." That was a true fact. I knew Paige could do this all of a sudden. As much as I hated the thought of her being the bait, something was giving me a good feeling that she could do this.

Everyone quieted down after that.

"After Paige gets the distraction going, she will give us a signal as to when the first group, Alberta's group, should go in. The first group will fight off the Strigoi as the second and third groups head in. Then the second group, Janine's group, will fight off those Strigoi as the third group, my group will head in and find the girls to make sure they're safe. Go for Tasha and Victor first. They're the ones we're after here."

Everyone gasped at Tasha and Victor's names but I let it go because we had to get moving.

"Does everyone have their stakes and the extra weapons with them?"

Everyone nodded their heads.

"Alright. Let's go. Now."

Quickly, but quietly, we made our way to the edge of the wards. It was time for Paige to go out there and distract them. How she was going to do that was a mystery to me. I placed my hand on her shoulder and turned her to face me.

"Paige, just remember I love you and I won't let anything happen to you or your sister."

She hugged me tightly. I hugged her back. "I love you too Dad. And no matter what I do today, don't doubt that even though we just met."

Paige walked outside the wards with both stakes hidden. She walked up to the cabin and knocked on the door. And in the dead flesh, in the doorway, stood Tasha and Victor. Tasha, the woman who gave my baby girl, Claire, her life. But now a thing so horrible that she needs to suffer for what she's done over the past few years. Then Victor, the man who tried to turn Lissa into his own personal healer, putting a lust charm on Rose and I and then threatening to use it against us in the courtroom. He was the one who really needed to die for all the pain he has caused. Paige started to talk a little bit then Tasha hugged her.

Wait, she _hugged_ her? What is going on?

Paige kept talking and by the looks of it, it looked like they have known each other for a long time now. But how could I have not known about this? I do remember Tasha saying something many years ago about a girl who was almost like a daughter to her and she was the best in the entire school. Could Paige be that girl? Is Paige working for Tasha?

Paige looked back in my direction saying come in closer, which meant everyone needed to move in but stay on alert.

I waved the group closer while Paige stepped inside. What is she doing?

Janine tapped my shoulder and I looked to see her standing right next to me with a panic stricken face clearly winning over her guardian mask. I had never seen anything break her mask. But clearly, something along those lines could.

"What is she doing? She could get us all killed!" She whispered nervously.

"I have no idea. But whatever the reason, clearly she may have had ties to Tasha previously."

She shook her head. "That was totally and completely stupid. You should never have let her do this."

I nodded my head in agreement.

All of a sudden Paige was thrown outside the door onto the ground followed by Victor with Tasha behind him. Six Strigoi surrounded them as well. I tensed up. He was shouting so loud we could all hear but we moved in closer anyways.

"You are such a lying and manipulating little bitch! You can't keep your mouth shut for two seconds can you? What did I tell you months ago!" She's known then for months. My suspicions still remain the same. "You were not allowed to tell anyone what we are doing and why we're doing it!"

All of a sudden he was down at her neck trying to bite her. But I wasn't going to let that happen. I had moved in so much that I was able to get to him in five quick strides and rip him off of her, dragging my stake through his back enough to leave him screaming in pain. But he would heal from it eventually. He would just be disabled for just enough time.

"Don't you dare touch my daughter!"

"Dimka! How nice of you to join us. I see you've met Paige already"

I would know that voice anywhere, even with the coldness.

"Tasha."

Guardians kept moving in closer ready to attack. Then the six Strigoi jumped out and four guardians came out from the first group and three were easily staked. They must have been newborns because their movements were sloppy and uncoordinated. The other three put up a good fight. But one person that didn't fight was Janine, which surprised me. She came and stood by me. Clearly she didn't want them harming her granddaughter.

"Dimka, you didn't honestly think you could win this could you?"

"Where is Claire, Tasha?" I snarled.

"Oh, don't worry. Our daughter is in the cabin just waiting for you to come and join the party!" she laughed. Somehow I think she meant to turn both of us. Oh, wait. That is what she wanted.

She wanted to lure me here by kidnapping Claire. That way she could have us both in the same place just so she could turn both of us. That manipulating little bitch.

I watched Paige try to stand up and failing. I wanted to run over to her and get her up but I had a job to do right now and she would come next. Even in Claire's condition that I don't know about yet. Paige needs help.

There was one thing I always taught myself and others that I trained.

Don't hesitate.

That was exactly what I did because all of a sudden, a Strigoi came out giving me a good kick in the side and made me stumble over. I cried out in pain. But that wasn't going to stop me. I grabbed my stake and aimed a hit at Tasha. She was quick. Clearly she knew what she was doing. We fought and the pain from falling was starting to worsen. I needed to get this done quick. All we could do was start to go back and forth, back and forth. Neither getting a hit on the other.

Out of no where, Christian came out and shot a fire ball at Tasha and she screamed in pain. Victor was starting to recover and Christian sent fire at him as well.

Quickly, I was able to get a hit on Tasha with my stake that made her stumble and cry out in pain. I ran into the cabin to find more Strigoi and the second group followed close behind me. I kept running through staking all the Strigoi I could get to while running to find the girls. Connor and Christian were not that far behind me.

We found Claire and Marie lying on a bed gagged and bound to it. Their necks had dried blood all over from being bitten so much and Claire was unconscious while Marie was trying to scream for help. When she saw Eddie, Connor, Christian, and me she started to cry. Christian nearly had a heart attack at the sight of his daughter being tied up. Both he and Eddie probably remember what happened in Spokane and it was too much for them to see history repeating itself just with the next generation. But none the less, they were still going strong. We rushed over to them and started to untie their binds.

Janine came in soon after and started to help untie the girls.

"Dimitri," she whispered. "All the Strigoi outside have been killed. But a lot of the guardians have been wounded so they're going back to the academy. We have enough here to finish the job. All that's left is Tasha and Victor. But Paige is knocked out unconscious. Some human came up from behind her and shot her in her back with a gun. She was then knocked out by Victor when he came up behind her and bit her. Luckily Alberta was able to rip him off before things got too bad. He went to help Tasha after that and Alberta ran Paige back to the academy."

I didn't realize the breath I was holding until I exhaled. It was too much to process. We still have two Strigoi we have to take care of and we need to finish before I can start to worry about Paige.

We had just finished untying the girls when Tasha and Victor walked back in.

"Well, well, well. Looks like we haven't finished you off yet," Victor said.

Janine stood up and I did the same. We stood side by side, as a team. Christian and Eddie soon joined us to make our force even stronger. Connor stayed behind us just to make sure the girls were extra protected.

"You know, if you wanted to have your death quick and painless, you could have let us kill you back there. But clearly, you would like the slow and painful method," Victor taunted.

"Now, now Victor. They could be useful to us."

"Oh, I don't care anymore, Tasha. Kill them."

I lunged at Tasha and with quick movement she ducked out of my reach but not before I could rake my stake across her arm. She let out a high pitched scream. Christian set fire on both of the demons that were trying to turn and kill. But I wasn't going to let them touch one hair on my head or my daughter's.

Tasha came lunging at me and I dodged out of the way. Once again we started to do our dance for the finish. It was now or never. I needed to kill her. She captured our daughter, drank from Marie, and wanted to kill the love of my life.

Rose.

That was the one person who would keep me fighting much faster and stronger. She is my strength and my love for her would only help give me a better advantage.

Tasha was starting to get tired. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Eddie and Janine fighting Victor. But that was all it took for me to get knocked over. Tasha took a swing at me landing her fist in the middle of my back. I cried out in pain.

As I fell to the ground I felt Tasha kick me in the ribs and heard a crack. One of my ribs was broken for sure.

Christian sent another flame of fire over at Tasha and she cried out in pain. I tried to recover the best I could but my ribs and head were killing me and I was starting to get really dizzy. But I was not giving up.

I caught Tasha off guard and staked her heart, leaving her dead.

Now I had to face Victor with the little amount of strength I had left.

"What did I tell you Victor when I came to your cell all those years ago. After you threatened to tell people about what really happened that night of the charm? I told you I would come and hunt you down. And now, I have. Clearly, you need to rethink what your motives are."

By that point Janine had moved behind him and met my eyes giving me a look that said, stake-on-three. She gave me the signal and we both attacked at the same time. He swatted me in the ribs to the side easily and I fell to the ground crying out in pain. Victor had no idea Janine was behind him. She staked him ending all of the horrible mayhem that caused us to come to the academy in the first place.

Tasha and Victor lay on the floor dead while I just stared at them. They were the ones who captured Claire and Marie. And now, I saved them. I could go home to my family. Rose. That was the one name that got me moving again.

My head was pounding and my ribs were starting to throb painfully. I had at least one, maybe two broken ribs. That was when Connor spoke up.

"Dimitri, we need to move. If we don't, there could be more chaos soon."

I nodded. Quickly, I picked Claire up in my arms and groaned as I felt the pain in my ribs. Janine and Christian went to go help Marie. We walked out of the cabin and back towards the academy. I was so focused on not dropping Claire that I didn't realize Janine was trying to talk to me.

"Dimitri, you look like you're going to pass out. Are you sure you don't want me or Eddie to carry her?" I shook my head no. "Okay. If you say so. But we still have to talk. After you've rested, seen Rose, and talked to Paige about what the hell went on right before all of this."

"I know. I will."

With that, we didn't talk the rest of the way back. I needed to focus on getting Claire back to the academy with the horrible pain in my side. I gritted my teeth to keep from screaming.

We were almost there when we saw Lissa and Harold standing at the gate waiting for everyone's return.

Lissa ran over to Marie giving her lots of hugs and kisses and shouting how scared she was about losing her. Christian, Harold, Lissa, and Marie were a happy family that was once again reunited. But my family was not together. Claire is knocked out, Paige was shot in the back, I have broken ribs, and Rose is in the hospital recovering. Connor was the only one who came out with only a few scratches and minor cuts that couldn't be easily healed. Janine and Eddie somehow became a part of this family too.

Eddie must have realized I was about to drop Claire because all of a sudden, she was out of my arms and in Janine's while he helped me stand up. I knew I need to get to the infirmary quickly because I was about to black out. But I wanted to see Rose first. She needed to know that I was safe and Connor was okay.

"Eddie, I need you to take me to Rose. Please."

"Dimitri, I think you should get your ribs taken care of first. Then you can see her. It won't take that long," he told me.

I couldn't resist. I was too tired, so I nodded my head and walked towards the infirmary with Eddie and Connor helping me up. Janine had already taken Claire because she needed immediate attention.

I don't know how long it took us to get there but it was probably the longest amount of time I have ever endured something so painful. But thats when Lissa came running in frantically shouting at me to wait. I turned around to see what she wanted. What she told me was not something I was going to agree with right away.

"Dimitri! I know you're hurt. Please. Let me heal you. If Rose knew you were that hurt she would never forgive herself for not going out there with you! Please! She's been through enough already."

I wasn't going to agree because I knew that if Lissa used Spirit to heal me, Rose would go crazy. But I had to agree with her logic. Rose would never forgive me for not letting her go out there, even in the condition she was in, all because I got a couple broken ribs. So I nodded my head.

"Okay, Lissa. But no more healing okay unless its just minor. Rose doesn't need to go crazy."

"Oh, thank you so much Dimitri!"

Quickly, she placed her hand on the side with my broken ribs and I could feel the magic inside healing what was broken. When she finished I could no longer feel any pain inside and I no longer felt dizzy. She smiled at me and I smiled back thanking her for all she's done.

"Dimitri, you don't have to thank me. You brought my little girl back safe and sound and I can never repay you for what you have done for me. I have to thank you for everything you have done not only for me, but for all of my family."

I smiled. I gave her a hug catching her off guard and she finally hugged me back. It wasn't a romantic hug. It was just a hug that two friends would share at any time. Besides. I had Rose and I didn't need any other woman to capture my heart. She is the only one.

After Lissa walked off, I walked to Rose's room. I stood outside the door taking a deep breath before stepping inside. I didn't know what I would face. But I just hoped that she would take me back into her arms and I would never have to leave her alone like this ever again. She needed someone to be there and protect her from physical harm, emotional harm, and the spirit side effects. Especially now and I was going to be that person that never left her side.

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**So there was chapter 16 and I really hope you guys enjoyed it. Reviews are always nice but you don't have to if you don't want to. But like I said. They're always nice to have just so I get an idea of how you guys respond to my story and writing. Peace out.**


	17. Chapter 17

**I'm sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry! I know I haven't updated in a very long time but I just have so much on my plate that I'm doing my best. I really hope you guys like this chapter as it took me a very long time to write and edit. I wanted it to be one of the best chapters yet. You guys are in for a surprise! Here's the next chapter!**

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**Dimitri POV**

I stood outside Rose's door waiting to see her when I heard a horrible sound coming from inside her room, almost like a window breaking with a high pitched scream. Immediately, I pushed the door open to find Connor laying unconscious on the floor with a horrible head wound while Victor had fangs in Rose's neck, feeding from her. Quickly, I ran over to Rose's side and ripped Victor off her. She was passed out on the bed due to blood loss. But I'd worry about her and Connor in a minute.

"Well, well. Took you long enough to get here. I thought I was gonna have to kill your beloved Rose and her charming son without your presence. That would have been a shame to think you don't know how your love dies," Victor said. He was starting to taunt me and I didn't like it. I tensed ready for a fight.

"I thought I killed you already," I growled.

"Oh of course not. When you plunged that stake into my chest, I must say that you missed only by the slightest bit. As soon as the stake was ripped out and I had healed, I rushed here to find Rosemarie without protection. So I'm doing what Tasha wanted in the first place. Rose to be killed on our part. We thought about turning her considering she would be a great addition to the Moroi world, but Tasha wouldn't have any of that. She said she wanted you all to herself and wouldn't share you with the darling Rose," he smirked. Ass-hole.

I snarled. "Don't touch her. She has done nothing. This ends now!"

I lunged at Victor once more to end this once and for all.

He side stepped my attack and I only brushed his side. I need to stop being driven by anger and emotions. Clear my head and fight like a guardian.

He thought he had me. He thought wrong.

Victor went for my face while I ducked and landed a blow to his stomach. he collapsed over in pain and I saw that as an opening to kick his ass even more. With all my strength, I managed to pin him down, pull my stake out, and stake Victor in 5 seconds. He was too distracted by my blow he had no idea what was coming.

This time when I plunged the stake into his heart, he died. I watched the life fade out of his eyes and the red disappear and I made sure this time he stayed dead.

Victor was dead. End of story.

I stood up and looked down at Victor. He was a well loved royal who managed to destroy lives and himself by kidnapping Lissa. He should have learned his lesson a long time ago.

I turned around to see Rose still laying unconscious. Quickly I rushed to her side and pressed the assistance button. The nurse walked in to see Rose laying bloody on the bed while I stood over her, frightened she might die. Not now. Not when everything could be alright again.

The nurse ran to get the doctor and I held Rose's hand as I placed one hand on her cheek. "Wake up Roza. You can't go yet. You have to stay for Connor, Paige, Claire, and me. Please."

As I thought of Connor's name, I quickly turned my head remembering he was knocked out as well. I rushed over to him and took my shirt off placing it on his wound, which was gushing blood. I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket and quickly dialed Lissa's number. She could come and help if not Rose, but Connor at least. His injury wasn't as severe as Rose's.

The phone rang three times and she finally picked up.

"Vasilisa Dragomir."

"Lissa, it's Dimirti. You have to get over to the clinic, now."

"I'm already there. I'm in Marie's room. What's going on?"

"Victor Dashkov was here. He knocked Connor out and he's bleeding from his head, and when I arrived he had his fangs in Rose's neck."

Lissa gasped. "Oh no, Dimitri. I'm almost there. Just hang on!"

She hung up the phone and while i tried something to hold my shirt to Connor's head, I started looking for something to help stop the bleeding from the two punctures in her neck.

Lissa swung the door with a force that no one knew was possible for a Moroi woman. She came Running to Connor and immediately had her hands on his head trying to heal his wound.

"Dimirti, go to Rose, try to help her and stop the bleeding. I will be there as soon as I can. Connor is almost finished."

I let go of Connor and ran to Rose's side. I grabbed a towel lying next to her bed and pressed it to the side of her neck. The bleeding hadn't slowed in any sort and she had already lost too much blood.

"Rose. Roza, come on. I know you'll make it through this. Please. Wake up."

She didn't move. The doctors on duty came running in and started to work over her pushing me out of the way. I just stood on the outside watching as the doctors tried to save her. They placed an oxygen mask over her mouth and nose and put a needle connected to a bag of blood in her arm. They worked over her neck trying to stitch up the puncture marks as they were a problem.

I couldn't move. I just stood there and stared. I kept thinking, what if she doesn't make it through this? What if I don't get to tell her I love her ever again? She might die and it's all my fault. I could have prevented this. If I hadn't left her in the first place, she wouldn't have had to give Paige up. She wouldn't have had to go through Victor biting into her neck and drinking her blood, draining the life right away from her.

I hadn't realized I was crying until I felt someone put their hand on my shoulder. I turned and looked to see it was Lissa. She was giving me the same look I probably had on my face. What if her best friend didn't make it?

I wrapped my arms around Lissa in a friendly gesture trying to comfort her. She needs it about just as much as I do.

Slowly the doctors started to clear out until there was only one doctor left standing in front of me and Lissa.

"Would you like to know the condition Guardian Hathaway is in?" Lissa and I just nodded our heads, unable to speak. "She is alive, but she lost too much blood. Had she lost anymore, she might have died. It appears that she also suffered a couple of broken ribs. She may have been punched trying to fight her way out. She has a number of bruises on her stomach and head as well. We expect her to have a full recovery but it will take a very long time. I want her to be put on bed rest for the next three to four weeks. She has been through so much in the last twenty-four hours that her body needs a break."

I nodded my head. "I'll make sure she rests a lot. She won't like it but I think she'll be okay with it after a couple days."

"I'll help too," Lissa chimed in. "I may be the headmistress here but that doesn't mean I wouldn't put my sister first."

"Very well. I'll leave here with her in your care. Here's some pain killers she's going to want. She'll wake up feeling very groggy and sore so the pills should help. If she needs anything, just come let me know," the doctor finished. With that he walked out the door and I turned to face Rose.

She lay there so helpless and vulnerable. It's almost as if she knows what is going on. She may have known before Victor arrived but I'm not quite sure.

I grabbed a chair and placed it next to Rose's bed. I sat down and grabbed her hand. I could feel my eyelids droop and the tiredness of the day's events wash over me. I laid my head down on Roza's bed and fell asleep whispering, "I love you Rose."

**Lissa POV**

I watched as Dimitri tore himself apart over Rose. He loves her so much and seeing her in this state is killing him. All he wants is a normal, happy life with Rose after he made up with her. Instead, Rose went through the physical pain with her lower abdomen, and then Victor came and tortured her. We should have put a guard in her room because everyone knew that Rose was the one Tasha and Victor were after. But it didn't occur to us that after Dimitri killed Tasha and Victor, that maybe, if not Victor, a Strigoi of some sort would have carried out Tasha's plan and tried to kill Rose.

Turning my head towards my best friend, I saw that she was broken too. She has been through so much in the last 48 hours. No one saw any of this coming. This almost reminds me of one of the days where Rose was hospitalized while Adrian was alive. Just a few days after Connor was born.

_Flash back_

_ We had just gotten back from the hospital. Rose had little baby Connor in her arms and Adrian's arm was wrapped around her waist lovingly. They were so happy together in this one moment. Rose and Adrian aren't married yet. Adrian hadn't had the nerve to propose to Rose until she was in her last couple months of pregnancy. We knew that Adrian wanted to propose a long time before she got pregnant but she was still so broken from Dimitri that he didn't have the guts to push her into anything. It was a good thing he didn't either because if he had she would have probably chucked her stake at him. This is the reason for giving Connor Rose's last name. _

_ Connor Hathaway was a mix between his parents. He had his mother's hair color and her almond colored skin. But his eyes were the piercing green color of his father and the same nose and mouth. He was a beautiful creature. One of the cutest babies I had ever seen. Well, Claire was extremely cute too but Rose doesn't exactly know about her._

_ Rose took Connor upstairs after Adrian gave her a kiss on her lips. She gave Adrian one of her "man-eater" smiles over her shoulders and started to climb the stairs, being careful not to drop Connor. She was a total natural. Once Rose made it all the way upstairs and we heard the door shut, Adrian took a deep breath and made his way over towards the couch to lie down. I don't blame him. He's been through a lot in the last couple days. I walked over to the kitchen and poured him a glass of Vodka, which is something Rose always told me not to do. She said that Adrian could do it himself if he was actually going to take a drink. Adrian stopped drinking once he got Rose pregnant. Every now and then he has a glass of vodka or a drink or two at a party but nothing more. He's finally turning into the responsible parent he just became._

_ Walking back over to the living room, I noticed Christian and Eddie had sat down across from Adrian and they were chatting quietly. I couldn't quite make out what they were saying but once I walked over they stopped. Clearly this wasn't something I was supposed to know but I was going to get the information out of them. If I had to, I would seduce Christian into telling me. I handed Adrian the glass and he took it appreciatively._

_ "You looked like you could use it," I told him._

_ "Of course. Thank you," he said. He took a deep breath and started to rant about something I never thought I would hear him say. "Lissa I'm so nervous all of a sudden and I can't tell Rose that. What if I'm a horrible father to Connor? What if I can't be there for him or Rose all the time? If I told Rose my fears she would just reprimand me and tell me to get over myself. What am I going to do?"_

_ Adrian almost burst into tears. I have never seen him so upset or worked up over something. He must be battling this pretty hard. I placed my hand on his knee and gave him a sympathetic smile. _

_ "It will be okay. You are going to be a great father. Plus not only will you be able to be there for Rose, but Christian and I will be as well. If you can't be there twenty-four-seven for her and Connor, then one of us will fill in for you. It's not going to be a piece of cake. But you are going to love being a father. I can already tell you will be."_

_ He smiled at me but it didn't reach his eyes. "Thanks Lissa."_

_ All of a sudden, Rose came out from around the corner. It looks like she heard the whole thing. Her eyes showed she was hurt and angry that Adrian hadn't come to her. She had just gotten home from the hospital and she didn't need this. Especially not right now._

_ "Adrian, why didn't you just come to me about this? Now I know you can't talk to me about anything. Connor is upstairs. I'm going for a walk. No one follow me."_

_ With that she stormed out the door, slamming it shut behind her. Adrian winced._

_ "She's going to be okay," I told him. "I know she'll get over this in a little while. She just needs to blow off some steam."_

_ He gave me a look saying he didn't believe me but he would give her some time. That was until we heard a scream coming from outside. It sounded like Rose's scream. Adrian, Christian, and I ran outside to find Rose on the ground screaming and crying. Adrian and I ran to her side while Christian and Eddie kept guard watching for Strigoi and such._

_ I grabbed Rose's hand as Adrian tried to support her head. "Rose, baby, what happened?"_

_ Rose couldn't stop crying. She clutched my hand and squeezed it so hard I thought it would break. But I didn't care. She grabbed Adrian's shirt as she tried to say something but nothing but sobs and screams could be heard. Adrian kept brushing the hair away from Rose's face trying to calm her down. Almost like he had while she was in labor._

_ Once Rose calmed down the slightest, we were able to make out a few of the words she was sputtering out. "Chest... Strigoi... came... sliced my... stomach... help..." I couldn't understand what she was trying to tell us. Wait... she said stomach. I looked down towards Rose's shirt and noticed a giant blood stain. Slowly releasing Rose's hand, I lifted up her shirt to find a giant gash, starting from her right side all the way to her belly button. Adrian and I gasped. There was too much blood, she was loosing too much._

_ "We have to get her to a hospital. Eddie, give me your shirt."_

_ Without any question, Eddie handed me his shirt and I applied pressure to the wound, causing Rose to scream out in pain. I felt so bad but there was nothing else I could do. No wait... there was! I removed the shirt and pressed my hands to the wound, I sent happy thoughts through the bond to make sure she doesn't feel any more pain. I tried to heal her wound. I could only heal it so much though. I hadn't noticed that Adrian was trying to help too. But we couldn't help her enough. We may have closed the wound but she lost too much blood. She passed out._

_ "Eddie! Take Rose to the Clinic! We will be right behind you!" Adrian shouted. His face was full of worry. "Lissa, go back to the house and grab Connor. I'm going to go with Rose and Eddie." I nodded my head and started running towards the house._

_ When I arrived, I ran up to Connor's room and picked him up. He was still sound asleep. I tried not to run too much with Connor in my arms, but it was hard knowing that my best friend and his mother was passed out due to blood loss and a giant cut across her stomach._

_ I eventually reached the clinic to find Adrian and Christian outside Rose's room. They allowed Eddie to be inside only because he was a guardian and he was the one who carried Rose here. Adrian was pacing back and forth and Christian was seated in a chair with his head in his hands. Just because he and Rose fight a lot, doesn't mean that he doesn't love her like a sister. I sat down next to Christian with Connor. Christian looked up at me then at Connor. He reached his arms out and I handed him his nephew. Christian cooed to the baby and I could tell that he was going to be a great father once we get married. I gave him a smile._

_ Eddie came out and asked Adrian to come in the room with him. The doctor wanted to speak to him before he gave the rest of us the update on Rose. Adrian followed Eddie into the room. As I watched Adrian, he looked broken. Almost afraid that he had almost lost Rose and it would have been his fault. But he can't blame himself. No one knew that Rose would get hurt that quickly after stepping outside._

_ Adrian had been in there a long time when finally, finally, Eddie came out and asked me and Christian to come in. I stopped mid-step when I entered the room. Adrian had a hold of Rose's hand and was sitting in a plastic chair with his head on Rose's bed. Rose was still unconscious though. The sight broke my heart._

_ I just hope that one day, all of this pain and torture would leave Rose. She has been through too much to deserve this. Eddie told us Rose's state. She lost too much blood and the giant gash in her stomach would leave a scar. She wouldn't be too happy about that. But she is alive and needs a lot of rest. As long as she is okay, that is all that matters to me._

_End Flashback_

Eventually I learned that Christian and Adrian were talking about Tasha and Dimitri coming to visit. It was supposed to be a surprise for me but Christian had to tell Adrian so that he could take Rose away on a "family vacation." We didn't want her to see Dimitri at the time, especially with Connor being a new-born.

But on the other hand, Rose nearly being killed was one of the scariest moments of my life. Knowing that my best friend could have died because of blood loss. But here we are again in the same position. Rose is once again, unconscious because of a Strigoi and blood loss. The only difference is, instead of Adrian being the one worried about Rose and asleep by her side, holding her hand, it's Dimitri. He is so worried about her.

I decided that I'm not going to sit beside her and watch her suffer. I was able to heal Connor, I am going to heal Rose.

I walked over to Rose's side and placed my hands on her ribs. As I was about to send my magic through to her, a hand gripped my wrist.

"Don't you dare," Rose said.

"How did you know I was going to do that? You are supposed to be asleep."

She smiled. "You forget about the bond sometimes. I was in your head. I woke up when the doctor was giving you my diagnosis. Liss, I can't deal with three to four weeks of bed rest, but there is no way I was going to let you heal me."

I gave her a sour look. "You should just let me heal you, just this once."

Rose shook her head. "Nope."

"You are so stubborn sometimes!" I looked down towards Dimitri and he was clutching Rose's hand. Absentmindedly, Rose started to stroke his hair. "Have you forgiven him?"

"Not completely. I love him so much. But it's only a year after Adrian's death, Liss. Connor's father. I don't know if I could do that to him yet. I guess I'll have to ask him about it. But Liss, I just don't want to get hurt again."

I gave her a sympathetic look. "I don't think he's planning on leaving you ever again. Especially with recent events. He loves you a lot. I can tell. Especially when we would go and visit. He would always ask me how you were."

That made Rose smile. "Thank you Liss. I know that I haven't always been the easiest person to be best friends with, but I truly appreciate everything you have done for me."

I grabbed Rose's hand. "That's what a best friend is supposed to do. I will always be there for you. No matter what."

"Ouch. Why does my head hurt so much?" I looked over my shoulder to see Connor sitting up clutching his head.

"You were knocked out by Victor," Rose told him.

"Damn. Oops, sorry Mom." He got up and walked over to Rose. "How are you feeling?"

"I am much better now that you're awake. I love you so much Connor."

Connor leaned over and hugged his mom. "I love you too Mom."

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**So I hope you guys liked that! I will try to update more often from now on. I will even update my story "Letters from Hell" as soon as I can. Maybe tonight actually. Love you guys! Oh and please please please! I really need Reviews for this chapter! the more reviews, the faster I will be able to update!**


	18. Chapter 18

**I have the next chapter here for you! Enjoy!**

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**Connor POV**

My mom was in the hospital. Again. But for some reason, I was too. I don't remember coming here. All I remember was...

Victor.

He came and knocked me out. Now I remember. He broke in through the window, sending shards of glass everywhere. None of the shards landed on me, or on mom so we were both safe. That was until Victor headed towards my mom with an evil glint in his eyes. I headed towards him quietly, making sure he didn't know I was there. That is, until my foot stepped on a piece of glass and made a crunching noise. Victor turned around to see me standing behind him, still in the same position from stepping on the glass. So quickly, I didn't even have time to register it, he moved over and held me by the neck, closing off my airways and making me pass out.

When I woke up, was still in the room my mom was staying in. The only difference was that my head slightly hurt from being attacked by Victor, and Dimitri sitting by my mom's side hold her hand with Lissa nearby telling him everything would be alright. My mom was finally awake by this point and was just telling him to stay calm.

I figured I should make myself known now and wake up to find Dimitri was no longer in the room. He left to go talk to Paige. Oh she's in for it then. When she did what she did, I knew that there was no way Dimirti or Alberta, or Grandma even, wouldn't kick her ass for pulling the stunt I knew she was going to make. If Paige tells them that I knew what she was going to do, Dimitri would strangle me as well. There would be no way of getting out of this horrible mess and chaos. Not to mention that my mom would probably ground me for all eternity. That would mean I can't do anything or have any fun for a very, very long time. Shit.

I told my mom and Aunt Lissa that I was going to go to Paige's room to make sure she was alright. Aunt Lissa nodded her head and mom gave me a nod, letting me know it was safe to exit her room.

The walk to Paige's room seemed extremely long, even though her room was right next door. It felt like running a marathon rather than taking literally about fifteen steps to reach her room. Absolutely ridiculous if you ask me. I walked in to find Paige, lying in bed, eyes open, staring at the ceiling. She had tears in the corners of her eyes and her face gave away the fact that she was crying. I couldn't help but feel sorry for her. She had no choice in what she had to do in order to save Claire and Marie. It's not like she could have made any other decision. What she did was not only brave, but one of the best ways to keep everyone safe that I could have imagined. She did it not to benefit herself, but to benefit the academy, and all the guardians who work here.

I walked over to Paige's side and took her hand. She flinched at my touch but she didn't look at me. Her face said she was a mess, but her eyes told me everything else I needed to know in order to tell how she was feeling. Her eyes showed pain, anger, sadness, but most of all, triumph. That small amount of success is what has, most likely, kept her from killing herself.

"Paige, are you okay?" I finally asked her.

She looked at me with her sad eyes, mouth turned down into a frown at the corners. "No. I'm not okay. I almost got not only myself, but every one else killed. All because I couldn't tell my dad the plan of what Tasha and Victor were going to do. And because I couldn't tell my dad what I was going to do once we got there. Connor, I'm so ashamed of what I did back there."

She started to sob. I gently pulled her into my arms and let her cry. This must be what it's like to have a sibling. I wish I could have been there for her a long time ago. I wish my mom hadn't given her up. Mom never told me what she did with Paige. She wasn't too keen on telling me in the first place but Dad thought I should know. So he decided to tell me three years ago without my mom's knowledge.

"Hey, hey. It's going to be okay. The good news is you aren't dead and they didn't kill you. Everyone is okay. And there was no way you could have told Dimitri what you were planning. He wouldn't have let you do what you did. He's very protective over the people he loves."

She gave me a look saying "yeah right." "Oh whatever, Connor. It's not like it matters now. I'm stuck in this stupid hospital all because of Tasha. I used to think of her as a mother. The only woman I could count on. But oh, no. That had to be taken away from me too."

I placed my hands on her shoulders and looked her straight in the eyes.

"I won't be taken away from you ever again. Neither will Mom. We both love you too much in order to leave you."

That just made her cry more. I thought that by telling her that as her brother, I would always stick by her side would make her happy. I had no idea this was how she was going to react. Once again I pulled Paige into my arms and let her cry. She must have been bottling up a lot of emotions for this to happen like this.

Paige was still sobbing, heart-wrenching sobs, when there was a soft knock on the door. The door opened quietly and Dimitri stepped through the gap between the door frame and the door. When he saw Paige, his face turned into one of horror. He had no idea this was what he would find when he walked into the room. Aparently he still isn't used to finding girls, especially Hathaway girls, sobbing like this. When my Dad was still alive, he would find Mom crying all the time either in the kitchen or in their bedroom. Whenever Mom was upset, she would either cook something or just stare into space. Dad would wrap his arms around her and tell her everything was going to be alright and that he was here for her always. That is, until he got sick and died. Then Mom cried even more and I was the one who tried to help her. Slowly she got better but it was just never enough. Dad was the only one who could ever make her feel truly better, if not one-hundred percent.

"Connor, I hate to interrupt what you two are sharing right now but I really have some things I need to talk to Paige about," Dimitri said.

I nodded my head. "That's okay. I'll go and visit Claire and Marie to make sure they're okay."

Dimitri just nodded his head and didn't say anything back. He must be trying to prepare himself for what he's about to say to Paige. As long as he isn't too hard on her, she is willing to tell him everything that she has told me about her past, and maybe even more.

I gave Paige a hug and walked out of the room, glancing back to see her head hung down with shame. I just wanted to walk back over and give her a brotherly hug but Dimitri had pulled up one of the plastic chairs in the room so he could talk with her. I shut the door quietly behind me, pausing to taking a breath and steady myself to go see Marie.

**Paige POV**

I have never been so frightened of one person in my entire life. Usually people fear me. But this time, I feared my own father. He was not happy, along with the other guardians, with what I had done back at the cabin. I was ashamed of myself as well. I was no longer a part of the old life that had become my nightmare and it felt like a three-thousand pound weight had been lifted off my shoulders.

I hung my head low, trying to hide my eyes from my father so he couldn't see just how scared I was for him to question me. He grabbed one of the plastic chairs and pulled it over to the side of my bed. Slowly, he sat down, facing me, questions on the ready so he could get whatever information he wanted from me. I was afraid that he would want nothing to do with me after I tell him what I have to say. He could tell my mom what had happened and they might not love me anymore and ship me off to some other academy just like all the other foster parents had. Tears started to shed from my eyes as I thought of all the times I had been shipped from one family to another. It made me extremely sad just to think about it.

I lifted my head to meet his eyes which had a look of sympathy. Wait. Sympathy? Why would he feel sorry for me? I nearly ruined everything tonight. I almost got everyone killed because of my stupid stunt. "Why do you look like you feel sorry for me? Why would you? You saw what I did tonight."

He just stared at me like I had grown two heads. "Why wouldn't I? I am your father. Remember? I love you so much and to see what you did out there tonight, not only was it incredibly stupid, but it scared me to death. I thought that we had lost you when you were thrown out. Just after I had found you, not knowing about you for seventeen years. But what the hell Paige? Why would you pull some stunt like that? You could have gotten everyone killed!"

I flinched. I knew this would come up eventually. I took a deep breath. "Because I had to."

"You did not have to don't even say that."

"Yes I did. We had no other choice. I just didn't know they were going to take it that far. I had no idea they were after the girls and Mom."

Dad's face had slipped into his "guardian mask" as Mom would call it.

"Paige, what are you talking about? Did you know they were planning this?"

I nodded my head, affirming my answer to his question.

Dad stood up so fast I didn't have time to blink. Next think I know, the chair is on the other side of the room because he had thrown it. I didn't know he had such anger built up in him. "You are just like your mom! Keeping important information from me just so I can blow up and scream at you for not telling me in the first place! What haven't you told me yet? Don't even think about lying to me! I want the truth right now, young lady!"

I shrunk back into my chair. I took another breath to begin my tale.

"You were married to Tasha at one point right? You know that she used to own some of her own Marshal Arts studios. Well, do you remember the little girl that she would always talk to you about? The one that was so incredibly advanced, that she was even teaching some of the classes that they would hold? She was around the age of twelve? I was that little girl. I was living with my second set of foster parents at the time when I met Tasha. I was always getting into fights at school and getting teased because I was adopted. The kids would always talk about how they're parents are their biological parents and how they would never leave them in a foster home. Especially the Moroi. I couldn't say that. I was being moved around constantly because of my fighting and being a dhampir was a lot harder as well with all the teasing.

"I met Tasha at one of her studios. I needed a way to escape and let all my anger and frustration out. So I started taking classes. I tried to hang out with Tasha as much as I could so I wouldn't have to go home to my awful "parents." But that only lasted a few years because by that point, she had been taken and turned, as you know by now. I was devastated. Tasha was the only woman I could have called anything even close to a Mom. She took care of me while I was with her. I never stayed at her home with you guys because I always felt that I could take care of myself. That turned out wrong.

"About a month after she was taken, I was too. By her. That's when I met Victor. They told me that they were going to go and get you and Claire. She wanted to turn you and Claire so that you would be with her for eternity. I was under her command. She used compulsion on me to do whatever they wanted. That's how I ended up at this academy. She tracked you down and sent me here just so that I could keep an eye on you two. When I arrived, before I went to the headmistress' office, Tasha told me all about Mom and how she wanted to kill her because she was what would take you away from her. She wanted Rose out of the picture.

"I had to come up with my plan after I met you and Mom. I didnt' want anything to happen to you guys now that I had found my real parents. I got a letter from Mom, and at the time I didn't know it was her, but it said that she loved me so much and wished she could find me some day just so she wouldn't have to let me go again. I didn't want to let my Mom or Dad go ever again so I had to do what I did to protect everyone. I had no other choice. I'm so sorry, Dad. I just love you and Mom so much, I couldn't let anyone else do the distraction. Please don't ship me off to another school."

I was sobbing by the end of my speech. Dad was just staring at me with a few tears of his own slowly trickling down his cheeks. I pulled my knees up into my chest burying my face in my knees. I heard Dad get up and come sit next to me as the mattress sunk slightly from his weight. He wrapped his arms around me and just held me as I cried my heart out for the first time since I was eight.

We just sat there for a long time before he broke the silence.

"I get why you didn't tell me. But you still should have. Paige, your Mom and I could never ship you off to another school. You messed up just the tiniest bit and you had your reasons to do it. You knew that it would keep every one else safe if you were the distraction. But your mom and I love you way too much to send you off. Especially since you just came back to us. I left your Mom not knowing she was pregnant with you. We didn't speak until I arrived back to this academy. And now that I have her back, I'll never let her go either. You are the product of a special night we shared together all those years ago. There is no way we are eve letting you go now."

I buried myself into Dad's arms even more. I now knew that he and Mom really did love me and didn't want anything to happen to me. I shouldn't have even had those thoughts. But what else can I do. I'm the product of two dhampirs, both with bad ass reputations.

"I have to go now," Dad said. "Will you be okay here by yourself? If not I'll go find someone to stay here with you."

I shook my head. "No that's okay. I'll be fine. I need some time to think anyways. It'll be good for me."

Dad kissed my forehead and hugging me once more before getting up to leave the room. "I love you so much Paige, don't even doubt that."

I smiled at him. "I love you too, Dad."

**Marie POV**

In the past couple days, I have been captured by Strigoi, been used as a blood donor, and been saved by my Uncle Dimitri and Aunt Janine. Things could not get any worse than they already have been. I sat in a room in the Clinic for about four hours while they checked me out. Aparently I lost a lot of blood so they had to do a blood transfusion. Other than that, I was perfectly fine. I was just put on bed rest for about two weeks and then I could go back to classes.

Claire is in worse condition though. She was used as a blood whore, as Victor would call her, by the many Strigoi who worked for Victor and Tasha, even though she was Tasha's daughter. She also had a broken arm and a gigantic bruise, the size of a baseball, on the back of her right shoulder from one of the Strigoi hitting her and forced her to slam into a wall. She was only trying to protect us. She knew that at any minute one of us could die. She was trying to be a guardian and I truly appreciate what she did for us.

My mom always taught me that guardians put their lives on the line for us when they could go and have a family of their own. They should be treated with respect and dignity instead of hostility and shame. They are the ones who are always there for us when we are never there for them. Which is why I really want to learn how to fight with Magic.

There is also the subject of Connor. I have always thought he was one of the sweetest and nicesty guys around here. Not to mention the fact that he is very handsome and attractive. He has rock hard abs that look as if they have been sculpted by an experienced sculptor. I have always had one of the biggest crushes on him. But he only thinks of me as a sister. With everything that has happened lately, especially with his mom, I have a feeling that there will never be anything between us. I have decided to find a Moroi instead and keep the Dragomir-Ozera blood line.

As soon as I had that thought, a Moroi I knew very well, with blond hair and blue eyes, ran right into me on my way back to my room from the clinic. This boy's name is Sam Brighton. He was about six inches taller than me and had one of the cutest faces I have ever seen for a guy Moroi. Why am I just now noticing him?

"Oh, Sam. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to bump into you like that. I was just-" he cut me off.

"Don't worry about it Maire. It's no big deal. I should have been paying more attention to where I was going as well. Besides. You just got back from being kidnapped. You have every right to be distracted."

I forced my eyes to look down to the ground and blushed. I was slightly humiliated by the fact that I just ran into this gorgeous man and he just had to bring up with fact that I was kidnapped. Thanks a lot.

"Did you know that you are extremely beautiful when you blush? The color gives you a whole new look that makes you look stunning."

I blushed even more. I'm pretty sure my face looked like a tomato at this point. "Thanks, Sam. But really. I'm sorry about running into you like that. Let me make it up to you. Meet me outside of the girl's dorms tomorrow morning and we'll hang out. I want to take you somewhere. But you won't know where unless you show up."

He smiled showing all his perfect, pearly white teeth, and it made my heart stop. He really was perfect. "Alright. You have my word." He leaned in and kissed my cheek turning around and heading to his dorm room. I'm pretty sure he just made my heart melt.

"What are you doing out here? Was that Sam Brighton I just saw you with?"

I knew that voice from anywhere. It was Connor.

"Yes, that was Sam. And they released me from the clinic so I was heading back to my room when I bumped into him on accident. So what? Sam is just a friend. Don't get your boxers in a bunch."

"I'm just trying to look out for you. I get bad vibes from him. He doesn't seem like a good guy to be hanging around with to me."

I gave him a dirty look. "You're not my father. Don't tell me who I should and shouldn't hang around with. You have no control over me or what I do. So don't tell me what to do."

Connor put his hands up in surrender. "Sorry. I'm just trying to tell you what I think. I wasn't trying to control you. Calm down."

I took a deep breath. "I didn't mean it like that. I'm sorry. I'm just still pretty worked up over the whole kidnapping thing. I didn't mean to yell at you like that."

"No harm, no foul. It's perfectly fine. Don't worry about it. I get it really. I was just coming to make sure you are okay."

I lowered my eyes to the ground, not being able to look at him. "I'm as okay as I can be."

Connor pulled me into a protective hug and I felt safe for the first time in a few days. I wrapped my arms around him, holding him tightly, trying to erase my horrible thoughts about my previous situation. I leaned my head into his chest trying to breathe in his scent, memorizing it.

"It's going to be okay, Marie. I won't let anything or anyone else hurt you ever again. I will always protect you."

His words touched my heart, sending shivers down my spine. It made me feel even safer knowing that he would risk his life for me. I owe him everything I can give him.

Without even thinking about it, I pulled away slightly from him to look at him straight in the eyes. I found something that I couldn't even imagine being there. There was a slight hint of anger mixed with, was it lust?

Quickly, so quickly he didn't have time to react, I kissed him pressing my lips to his. At first he was frozen, stunned by what had just happened. But the next thing I know, he's kissing me back, wrapping one arm around my waist and his other hand tangling itself into my hair. I wrapped my arms around his neck pulling him closer to me.

I felt his tongue sweep my bottom lip, begging for entrance. I opened my mouth slightly, letting his tongue enter. Our tongues tangling together, fighting for dominance. We pulled apart gasping for air, foreheads leaning against one another.

"Do you know how long I have wanted to do that?" I asked him.

"No, I don't. But I'm glad you did."

I pulled away to look at him. His lips slightly swollen from our hot make-out session. "Does this mean we're a couple then?"

He smiled. "Yeah. I think it does."

I wrapped my arms around his neck once more while he wrapped his arms around my waist, picked me up and spun me around. I have never been more happy than I am now, in Connor's arms.

**There it is. Hope you enjoyed it. Remember. Please review!**


	19. Chapter 19

_I know I know I know. It's been 3 months since I last updated and I have no reason for it. Just that I've been stuck with major writers block and that I had to come back to it. So there you have it. I hope you enjoy this chapter. The next one in my personal favorite though.

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**Claire POV**

Swimming in blackness. Thats all I could see. There were no sounds. Just black. I wasn't sure if there was anything going on around me at all.

Slowly, ever-so slowly, the things around me started to become clear. I could hear a beeping noise, almost like a heart monitor. I could feel myself lying on a very uncomfortable bed and I was very stiff and sore. There was a slight pressure on my middle finger and I couldn't place what that pressure felt like. My eyelids felt very heavy and I struggled to open them. Once my eyes were open I took in my surroundings.

I am in a hospital clinic. How did I get here? The last thing I remember is...

What is the last thing I remember. I suddenly felt a slight pressure on my hand and it wasn't coming from whatever they had me hooked up to. It was another person. This person had blonde hair and their face was facing away from me, asleep on the bed. I had no idea who she was. I began to panic slightly. Suddenly the girl began to wake.

Once she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, she turned to look at me. Her eyes became wide. For what reason, I'm not sure of.

"Oh, Claire! I'm so glad you're okay! I thought you would never come out of your state!"

What is this girl talking about? What does she mean I'm okay? What does she mean I finally woke up? Who is she?

"I don't want to seem rude, but who are you?" I asked hesitantly.

She just stared at me for a second before answering. "I'm your cousin, Marie. How could you forget?"

My cousin? How could this be possible! "I don't even know you!"

Her face turned into confusion. She pulled out a cell phone and dialed a number.

"Hey, Uncle Dimitri, its Marie." She paused to hear what that man was saying. "Yeah she's awake, but I don't think she remembers anything or anyone... I'm sorry you just need to come down here, and quick... Yeah... Look I don't-... Just be down here now. No excuses."

The girl, Marie, hung up the phone and sat back down in her chair.

"Are you sure you don't remember me?" she asked.

I nodded my head. "I don't remember anything apparently. At least I know how to talk."

Just as I said this, a man, around the height of six feet and seven inches, with wavy brown hair that came down to his shoulders, busted in the door. His face held an expression of worry and disbelief. I couldn't do anything but stare at him. He seemed so familiar but I could not remember and I do not know anything about him. The man rushed to my side and grabbed ahold of my other hand.

"Claire, are you alright? Do you feel okay?" he asked. His voice made me feel safe and protected. I could not figure out why.

"Is that my name? And I'm very sore but I have no idea why and I don't even know why I'm here. Who are you?"

My answer gave him a look of pain and sorrow but he quickly covered it up trying to hide it with his guardian mask.

"My name is Dimitri Belikov. I'm your father." Well that explains the feeling I felt every time he spoke to me. "Are you sure you don't rememebr me, or anything?"

I shook my head. "I wish I could because I feel safe with you but other than that, no. I don't. I'm sorry."

He just nodded his head and started to walk out the door. "I'm going to go get a doctor," he told us and exited my room.

I looked at the girl, Marie, and took a good look at her. She seems familiar but I just can not put my finger on how I know her. I'm guessing that she's also one of the people I should remember but I just don't. She was very pretty. She had long blonde hair and bright blue eyes. She was very tall and skinny and very model like.

Just as I was about to open my mouth to say something, the man, my father came back in with a doctor right behind him.

"So, Claire," the doctor started. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine," I answered.

The man just gave me a look of disbelief. Clearly he didn't believe me. Plus I already told him that I was sore. But the doctor didn't need to know that. I just wanted to get out of this damn hospital.

"Well it seems that you have lost your memory. You know how to walk, talk, eat, sleep, and function. But the problem is, you don't remember people. Now I have spoken to your father about this but this is very common amongst dhampirs. Whenever a young dhampir has been fed on by a Strigoi, they tend to suffer from memory loss for a short period of time. After a few days, give or take, you will have your full memory restored. You will be able to remember people as well. Don't worry about this. For now, just stay out of school and out of physical combat or training. If you suffer from anymore injuries or put your brain in a learning environment, it could stop your memory from returning altogether. Does that make sense to you?"

I just stared at the doctor. All this information made me feel like my head was spinning. All I had to do was wait a few days and my memory would be in full once again? That didn't sound too bad.

"Okay. Yeah it makes sense and it doesn't sound too bad."

The doctor gave me a small smile. "If you have any problems or have been harmed in anyway, come back and see me and we'll take care of it."

I nodded my head. "Thank you."

"You're welcome. By the way, you are free to go when you like." With that he walked out the door.

Marie turned to me. "I'll let your dad help you back to your room. But I'm going to find my brother and go to sleep. I hope your memory comes back."

She leaned over hugging me and kissed my cheek before walking out the door and waving goodbye. Once she was gone, the man, or my father, started to speak.

"Do you want to leave? I'll help you back to your room. Or you can stay in mine. It's totally up to you."

I just stared at him. I felt like I should be alone but at the same time I wanted to be with my "dad" just in case my memory comes back and something goes wrong.

"I'll just go back to my room. I need to be alone for a while so I can try to remember what happened to cause me exactly to lose my memory. I get that I was fed on by a Strigoi but I want to remember the events that led up to that. Is that okay?"

His hand reached out to smooth my hair out of my face. "That is perfectly fine."

After I was dressed and out of the blood stained clothes they brought me to the clinic in, we set out towards my room. The walk was silent. Neither one of us spoke. I just looked around taking in the scenery around campus. But then something caught my eye towards the woods. As I tried to look to see what it was that I saw, a sharp pain suddenly was crushing down my brain and it felt as if my head would explode.

I screamed out in agony as I couldn't hold it in. The pain was just too much. My hands clutched my head as if I could suck all the pain away just by putting pressure against my skull. But it didn't do anything. Just made the pain even more unbearable. I vaguely heard my dad screaming out my name trying to find out what was wrong but I couldn't say anything. Slowly, so slowly I thought I was going to die, the pain subsided and dulled. But thats when the memories came back. The man who knocked me out, the Strigoi who fed on me and Marie, it was horrible to relive.

I clutched my dad closer and started to cry. He wrapped his arms around me just as if I was little girl again having the nightmares about the Strigoi attacking and feeding off me. I was frightened at this point.

"Daddy," I whispered. "I'm so scared."

"Shh, its okay baby girl. It's okay. I'm right here. Nothing is going to happen to you now. I won't let anyone touch you." He kept whispering to me in Russian as he tried to soothe me. It worked to some extent but the tears kept coming. I had no control anymore. Being kidnapped by my own mother was the last straw.

"Daddy, I want to stay with you tonight. I can't be alone. I'm so frightened!"

He kissed the top of my head and just pulled me closer. "Okay, sweetheart."

We reached my dad's room and he sat me down on the bed. "Daddy, I remember everything. Every detail. Mom scared me the most. She said that I would be turned someday and that you would be too. Rose was going to die wasn't she?"

He gave me a sad look. "Yeah. She was going to. But we got to her on time. She's okay now. It's nothing to worry about now. She's safe in the clinic."

"Daddy, you and Rose need to be together already. I thought there was going to be a chance for you and mom to get back together if she wasn't Strigoi. I just thought she left us. I was in complete denial about it. But after seeing her, I can truly see that you and Rose are meant for each other."

Dad sighed as he looked down at the floor. There was something bothering him. He always sighed when something was bothering him.

"Claire, there's something I have to tell you and I don't know how you're going to handle it."

"What is it?" I asked.

"Rose and I have another child."

I froze. What the hell did he just say? "What?"

"I told you that Rose and I had a relationship when she was a student right?" I nodded my head. "Well she was seventeen, almost eighteen at the time. What I didn't know was that when I left her to be with your mom, she was pregnant with my child. She didn't tell me until yesterday. She kept it a secret for seventeen years now. She gave the child away because she couldn't keep it because she reminded Rose too much of me. Paige came back yesterday. Paige is your half sister."

I just stared at my dad. How could he do that to Rose? Even if he did have me?

"How could you be so selfish dad? How could you do that to Rose? Yes I know by being with mom that you got to have me, but still. Why would you do that to Rose?"

Dad had a shocked expression on his face. I guess he didn't expect me to react like this. "I didn't know she was pregnant when I left Claire. I wasn't informed! I wasn't there for her when she needed me most! Do you know how guilty I feel as it is? And it's all my fault she had to give Paige up!"

He was panting by the end of his little rant. I shouldn't have yelled at him. "I'm sorry Daddy."

He came and sat next to me. "It's okay baby girl. It's okay."

He wrapped his arms around me and we just sat there for a long time in silence. That was until we heard a high pitched scream. Quickly we got up and ran towards the window to find Aunt Lissa standing ten feet away from Strigoi.

**Rose POV**

Lissa and I had been walking around campus just talking. I was feeling much better due to the fact that Lissa healed me while I was asleep. She knew that I would be angry when I woke up but now I'm grateful. I'm no longer a cripple.

After about twenty minutes, I heard a twig snap about fifty feet away from me.

"Did you hear that?" Lissa whispered to me.

"Yeah, it sounded as if-" I was cut off by the sudden attack of fifteen Strigoi surrounding me and Lissa.

"Well, well, well. Look what we have here. The queen and her guardian. Oh what a lovely surprise. I mean, we are going to have fun with these two."

I could recognize that voice from anywhere. It was Stan. How had he been turned? Or was he on Tasha's side?

"What do you want Alto?" I sneered

"I just want to kill you and turn Queen Dragomir. Isn't that just lovely? And now I have both of you here. This will be the best part of my day. And just think, it will be over for you so quickly."

I got ready to fight, when all of a sudden Lissa let out a loud pitched scream that could be heard all around the campus. We were doomed for her doing that.

All of a sudden, guardians came up right and left surrounding the Strigoi. We out numbered them by twelve. There was no way to win this fight. Around in the circle of guardians, I saw Christian with Alberta, Dimitri, Connor, Claire, Paige, and my mom. I was frightened for all of these people. Especially my children. If anything happened to them I wouldn't forgive myself.

Strigoi started attacking at us right and left. We had the upper hand at this point. Not one guardian had a scratch on them yet. Until one Strigoi managed to sneak away without us realizing it. It was Stan Alto himself. What poor guardianship. I was kicking, punching, and staking as fast as I could, trying to protect Lissa. All my family and friends doing the same. There was only one Strigoi left. Stan. He caught us all by surprise. Especially my mother.

She gasped and Alto slipped his hand around hers and stabbed her with her own stake, blood immediately starting to drip from her wound. Wordlessly she fell to the ground with a slight gasp as the pain hit her body. My whole body froze. This could not be happening. Immediately, I lunged at Stan with my stake out. He was not expecting me either way. I drove the stake right through to his heart and watched the life drain out of his eyes. "Don't mess with me, or my family you filthy piece of ass. I pulled my stake out of his heart and started to wipe it off when all of a sudden I heard someone calling my name. It couldn't be. It just couldn't be...

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_I'm going to upload the other chapter tonight as well. Love all of you and thanks for sticking with me through all of this._


	20. Chapter 20

_This is my favorite chapter of the whole thing so far. :] I hope you guys like it. It took forever to get it just right.

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**Rose POV**

Time froze. It was as if I could see everything I knew and loved fall right out from underneath me. Nothing could have prepared me for what had come next on the course my life was taking. Unexpected twists and turns that lead life down the wrong road. Time started to move in slow motion. I didn't think anymore, I just reacted. Kneeling down next to my mother's side as she lay on the cold pavement, convulsing and shaking from the cold, winter snow falling above us. Blood seeping through her shirt from the horrible wound she had just received, covering my own shirt and hands as I worked trying to save her. There was just nothing I could do and I thought I could feel my heart being ripped right from my chest.

The pain Dimitri put me through was nothing compared to this. He was considered a tiny little piece of dirt I could just flick off of me after he cheated and left. This, was monumental pain that I couldn't get rid of so easily, that would take years and years to heal. The love between a mother and daughter is sacred and only comes once in a girls lifetime. She needs her mother. Even at my age.

Dad came and kneeled next to me and mom, knowing she was about to die, this needed to be a last family moment we will ever get to have. I wish we could have had more when I was younger because I love it and I can't bear to let my mom go now. I gripped onto my mom's hand trying to get life back into her body while my dad gripped her other hand, but nothing worked. She looked at me with her loving eyes, for the first time since I was little, and spoke to me the last words she would ever say.

"I love you so much, baby girl. I'm so sorry it had to come to this. You have raised Connor into a fine young man, and he will be able to protect anyone. I'm sorry you felt you had to give Paige up even though I tried to stop you. I didn't want you to end up like me. Don't give up, honey. I'll always be watching over you. I love you forever, and that will never change."

All I could do was nod my head. My mother's face was blurry through the unshed tears that were threatening to fall. I didn't want my mother's last glimpse of me as crying. I wanted her to know that I loved her so much and wish that I had spent more time with her while she was around, when she finally came back, to her own daughter.

"I love you too, Mom. I'll love you forever. No matter what."

Mom tried smiling but it came out as a grimace. I gripped her hand tighter trying to get her to stay alive and with me. But that didn't happen.

Slowly, so slowly, her grip on my hand began to loosen and the life from her eyes was getting dimmer and dimmer. No daughter would be prepared to see their mother in the next state, not even a husband could stand to see the life die out of their wife's eyes. One that clearly broke my heart and would never be able to be fixed. Even if I did hate and resent her for leaving me all those years ago at the academy. I could no longer hear the sounds around me. Just the pounding of my own heart and my mom's labored breathing. Eventually, she stopped breathing and her hand went limp, cold, and slackened in my own. The end had come for her.

My mother, Janine Hathaway, is dead.

Nothing in the world mattered at this moment. Time was meaningless at this point. I laid my head down on my mother's chest, still gripping her lifeless hand, and cried. I cried for all the memories we shared, the times I took my mother for granted, for bringing my father back to me for the first time, and for saving my life tonight. I will never be able to repay her for all that she's done for me. I just sat there laying against my mom while my dad rubbed my back softly, clearly seeing I was in pain and torment from the death of my own mother.

I don't know how long my dad and Dimitri let me sit there. It could have been minutes, hours, days, months, I wouldn't care. I felt my dad scoot next to me and wrap one arm around my waist in a comforting gesture, eventually returning back to the slow circles he spread on my back. He didn't say anything. He just let me sit there with my face in my mom's chest, crying my heart out. The tears were endless though. Never stopping. I was vaguely aware of Connor coming to kneel down next to me staring at his grandmother with disbelief in his eyes. He took my hand in his and gripped it tightly as if he were a lost child trying to show his mother he was as scared as she was. That little amount of affection made me start crying even harder.

Slowly, after crying to the point all I had left were hiccups, I sat up slowly, taking in my surroundings. It was still dark out. Stan's body laying on the ground about 10 feet away from us. The bastard that tried to kill me, but succeeded in killing my mom. I looked over to find my dad sitting next to me, with tears in his eyes as well. He opened his arms and I gladly leaned into them, looking for the comfort only a father can give his daughter. I know he loved Mom. Especially since they got married seven years ago. He was just as heartbroken about this as me. The only difference, he still has me to remind himself of my mom, where I don't have anything except my memories to remember her. I cried into my dad's chest for a long time. Again, he didn't say anything. He just sat there, holding me in his arms, like a sad little broken girl even though I was now in my late thirties.

I was barely aware of the movement around me. I was barely aware that Dimitri was starting to pick me up in his arms as my dad handed me off to him, carrying me back to my room. I was barely aware of Lissa trying to talk to me, trying to tell me everything would be alright, while Christian and Eddie were trying to get her to shut up. I was barely aware of Paige screaming at everyone trying to get someone to explain to them what was going on. I was barely aware of someone throwing a sheet over my mom's dead body, while my dad tried to get everything organized. I just clutched Dimitri as close to me as I could, not wanting anything to disturb the numbness that was starting to wash over me.

Dimitri carried me all the way to my room, setting me down on the bed that occupied most of the space. He walked over to my dresser, pulling out a pair of my sweats and a tee shirt that I normally slept in. He helped me change out of my clothes, since I was basically in a mini-coma. He was quiet while he worked. Never once said a word to me, and for that, I was grateful.

Once he had me all cozy in a pair of my pajamas, or as cozy as I'll ever be, he slid the covers back from the top of the bed, and helped me underneath. He sat next to me brushing the hair out of my face, as I stared at him, studying his face. His face was full of worry, pain, and love. All those emotions for me. I reached out, like a timid little girl, and clutched his shirt as hard as I could, my hand shaking uncontrollably. He placed his hand over mine, clutching it even tighter, as the hand that was stoking my hair, moved down to caress my cheek, brushing the tears out of my eyes.

I couldn't hold myself together any longer. All the pain that was left over came back twice as hard as before. My sobs became louder and louder. Dimitri flinched a little at my screaming but didn't say anything. He just scooped me up in his arms, placing me on his lap, wrapping his arms tightly around me, whispering soothing and comforting words of Russian in my ears. My mind was completely numb.

"Why did she have to leave me? Why did she have to be taken away from me? Why?" I sobbed.

"Shh. It's going to be okay, everything will be okay, maybe not right now, but they will eventually. Just let it all out," he soothed me.

I continued to sob, and my mind was starting to go crazy. The images of my own mother being stabbed and dying right in front of my eyes, creating a horrible image that made me want to sob even harder. I was going into a mental breakdown that I wasn't even sure I would ever get out of.

I couldn't register anything at that point. I wasn't sure how long it took for me to fall asleep, but when I did, all I could see was blackness.

Dimitri POV

I didn't want to believe it, but there was no way I couldn't. Trying to tear my eyes away from the scene in front of me was even harder. Janine Hathaway, Rose's mom, is dead. She was killed by Stan Alto, turned Strigoi, from a stake, her own stake to be exact. The dirty devil was ruined and destroyed her. The blood was gushing from her wound, staining her shirt and the ground below her.

The thing that made me stop though was Rose. She looked absolutely devastated. Janine and Rose didn't always get along. I remember the black eye she gave Rose after I missed training one time. They had a heated argument and Janine became too furious. I wish we had those days back, to see Rose happy again would be a miracle.

I saw Janine speaking her final words to Rose. I had no idea what they were but what ever they were made Rose speak back to her. Rose isn't the type to have people see how weak and vulnerable she could be sometimes. This wasn't any different. She wouldn't want her mother to see her weak as that would be the last thing Janine sees forever.

I wasn't the only one who noticed how broken Rose had just become. Lissa, Christian, Eddie, Connor, Paige, and the kids were all staring at Rose, Abe, and Janine. No one spoke, no one moved. Time just stopped. There was no more fight. Just a lot of misery and pain that was about to be endured. Rose laid her head down on her mother's chest, sobbing, as her father tried rubbing soothing cirlces on her back, knowing she was hurting and her son stared at them, just watching until he knew it was the right time to be with them, as a family. This scene was heartbreaking. All Rose wanted was for her Mom and Dad to be together, they would get married, and they could be a happy family. I guess some had different plans. This family of three just needed to be together for one last time, even if the mother is dead. It was a special moment Rose and Abe would remember for a long time.

After some time, Abe waved me over to pick her up and move her so they could take care of the bodies. Rose was wrapped in Abe's arms, sobbing, and he tried to hand her over to me. At that point she didn't care anymore. She most likely just wanted to get away from the scene that lay before her, the one she witnessed with her own eyes.

When I moved all hell broke loose. Lissa was shouting to let her help Rose, while Christian and Eddie just tried to keep her calm and collected. Paige was shouting because she did not understand what was going on and she was scared for her mother. The rest of the kids didn't quite understand what was happening at the moment. They just wanted to help Rose. Connor helped me beat everyone off of me and Rose and I made my way up to her room while carrying her. She had her arms wrapped tightly around my neck with her face buried in my neck. I could feel wetness coming from her eyes, dripping down my neck and onto my shirt but I could care less. She had every right to be as upset as she is right now.

We reached her room and Connor left saying he was going to find Paige to make sure she was okay. I nodded my head, shifting Rose slightly in my arms trying to get the door open. Once inside, I walked over to her bed and laid her down making sure she wouldn't fall out or anything along those lines. I walked over to her dresser pulling out a tee shirt and a pair of sweatpants that looked like they had been almost worn out. I helped her change her clothes as it was clear she was not able to do it herself. After I got her all dressed I pulled back the covers tucking her in so she could at least feel somewhat secure at this point.

Sitting down beside her, I stared deep into her eyes. They were almost blank. She was completely numb. There was a small hint of excruciating pain that she was going to be feeling once the numbness wears off. I brushed the strands of hair that were falling in her face away with my hand, trying to send a message to her through my touch. Her hand slowly reached out to clench the fabric of my tee shirt. It was then I noticed just how hard she was shaking. I placed my hand over hers that was gripping onto my shirt and squeezed her hand tight in mine. The hand that was brushing her hair away started to caress her face while wiping the tears away from her eyes. All of a sudden, she began sobbing. This was the moment I was dreading.

The numbness was wearing off her mind.

I just pulled her into my lap sitting up, wrapping my arms around her. I was singing a soft Russian lullaby my mom would sing to me when I was a little boy and I was frightened by something, mainly my "father." I knew she wouldn't understand it but she once told me how much she thought me speaking Russian to her was soothing.

"Why did she have to leave me?" I heard Rose say quietly. "Why did she have to be taken away from me? Why?"

Rose was in complete shock and couldn't even register what was happening around her.

"Shh. It's going to be okay, everything will be okay, maybe not right now, but they will eventually. Just let it all out," I tried soothing her. I'm not sure how much it worked though.

Eventually, her breathing slowed, signaling that she was asleep. I moved her so she was laying down on the bed, her head lightly resting on her pillow. I slipped under the covers next to her, holding her tight to my body so she wouldn't wake up alarmed and alone.

I had no idea what would be in store for us in the future. But right now, for the next little bit I will be living, my life will be devoted to making Rose happy again. She may not be one hundred percent yet, but as long as she's happier from this awful series of unfortunate events. Rose hasn't had a break from terrible events since we brought her back to the academy. First she was put under house arrest for taking Lissa away for two years. Then Lissa gets kidnapped by Victor Dashkov where right after I completely reject her. Soon following that, Natalie, Victor's son, turned Strigoi and almost killed her. Rose was inexperienced at the time and was clueless as to how strong Strigoi were. Then she and her friends were captrued by Strigoi and taken to Spokane where they were kept prisoners for a few days. Unfortunately, not everyone came back alive. Mason, one of Rose's best friends, was killed by a Strigoi, shaking Rose up to the point she would be outside her dorm room in the middle of the night. Following that, she finds out that she can see ghosts when she's out of the wards and it could very well kill her. If that wasn't enough to destroy her, right after the ghosts, I left her to be with Tasha. Worst mistake I have ever made. Then after that, she finds out she's pregnant with my child and has to give the baby away for reasons that still don't make sense to me. Next, comes her husband, Adrian, and the fact that he died due to his illness you couldn't cure. Finally, it all came down to this. The final straw. Her mother being killed.

If I said I was not scared for Rose now from all she's gone through, that would be a complete and total lie. I'm scared. I'm so frightened. I'm worried that Rose will slip back into the awful depression she was in after I left her and cut her wrists again. I have so much faith in Rose but I don't know what this will do to her. She just can't seem to catch a break from all the mayhem that has been happening in her life.

* * *

_Well there you have it. That's all I have now. Hopefully I post more before 3 months go by this time... Love you all_

_HappyGilmore27_


	21. Temporary Note

I"m so sorry I have been MIA for about a year now. Things have just been... not so great and yet great at the same time in my life right now. I graduated, I finished my dancing, I was in Phantom of the Opera, I'm signing up for more classes for college, and I have been in the process of moving and packing up my house so its been a real struggle for me and my family for the past year. I'm planning on continuing the story as soon as I can figure out where I left off and where I feel the story should go next.

For those of you who are still following my story, you guys are the best. These next few uploads will be for you!

Love,

HappyGilmore27


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